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Garner Ted Armstrong
SPEAKS OUT!
Escape the Credit Trap!
l
f it isn't "buy now, pay later," it's
"fly now, pay later." Just whip
out that piece of plastic with your
name embossed on it, let 'em crank
it through the machine, sign your
name, and you're all set to go trip–
ping gaily off into the wild blue yon–
der, because "tomorrow may be
too late."
Every time
1
see one of those
commercials depicting a happy,
fun-loving couple throwing away all
their cares and rushing off to Fiji,
the Hawaiian lslands, or the Carib–
bean -
on
credit -
1
wonder what
happens when they get home,
when the credit card company
says, "Okay, buddy, you've · had
your fun. Now it's time to pay up."
According to a recent study made
by a large Detroit bank, the typical
U.S. wage earner - a 38-year-old
father of two - makes $13,847 a
year, but he is still about $500 in the
hole.by the end of every year.
Why?
Simply because society today is
materialistic, based upon lust; be–
cause the advertising media dangle
befare us everything from vacations
to automobiles, boats, furniture, ap–
pliances, clothing, an endless array
ot recreational gadgetry, and every
type ot labor-saving device to make
our lives easier, happier, and more
tun. And, of course, we just can't
resist what we think we need -
even it we have to borrow heavily to
get it. We
need
that color TV; we
need
that trip; we
need
that new
luxury car. "You owe it to your–
selt," we are told constantly.
44
We don't want to wind down our
standard of living. We refuse to
change our lite-style. We want to
continue moving upward.
There' s noth i ng wrong. of
course, in wanting to improve one's
lot in lite. But when it 's done mainly
on credit, a
talse illusion
of prosper–
ity is created. Spending money you
don 't have for things you don 't
really need will eventually catch up
with you. The bilis will start rolling
in, and you won' t have the money
to cover them all. You might be able
to successfully juggle them around
tor a few months, but ultimately the
"final payment" will catch up with
you. Not surprisingly, personal
bankruptcies continue to be on the
upswing across the country.
The Detroit study also revealed
that the typical wage earner ' s
checking account balance gener–
ally falls below zero by about the
28th of each month. Two or three
days later, he rushes to get his pay–
check into the bank to cover a few
checks he's already written, and he
survives again - barely.
This is the way the typical Ameri–
can wage earner is living. He goes
under about the 28th ot every
month, only to emerge a tew days
later sputteri ng with a gasp of
amazement that somehow he made
it through another month. lf the car
breaks down or sorne other unex–
pected expense comes along, he
might find himself in very serious
financia! trouble.
In fact, the average person's fi–
nancia! affairs are so chaotic, the
study reveals, that he literally can't
afford to die, given the high cost of
funerals these days!
How does a tami ly avoid a hand–
to-mouth existence? Sorne people
don't have the faintest idea how to
get out of the credit trap and off the
financia! merry-go-round. lt never
occurs to them to quit spending, to
quit buying on credit, to torgo pur–
chases of nonessentials, to resist
that insatiable urge to get more and
more things and, instead, to put
that money into savings.
Many have actually been condi–
tioned by television commercials to
bel ieve that theway tomakemoney is
to
spend!
One commerciall 've seen
lately shows a bright, apple-cheeked
newlywed couple going into a de–
partment store. "We just got married
the other day!" they exclaim. "We
saved
a hundred dollars on this ítem,
saved
three hundred on this, and
saved
six hundred on this. " Being
wheeled in front of them is a big
washer and drier, an electric range, a
large-screen color TV, a giant frost–
free retrigerator, and so on.
What those ads ought to say is
that you will
spend
comparatively
/ess, or you will
spend
so many dol–
lars /ess than with a competitor's
product. But you are, nevertheless,
spending.
Yet, many people, appar–
ently, are so gullible that they think
they're saving when they are
spending.
1
guess maybe they are
following the example of the federal
government - the number one
spendthritt of all time.
In short, the whole nation - both
prívate individuals and government
- is living way beyond its means.
Politicians say they want to balance
the U.S. budget. How they can do
this, end inflation, and put all the
unemployed back to work (presum–
ably even those who don 't want to
work) is anybody's guess.
But on the personal level, you
can begin to do something right
now to put sorne arder into your
own financia! situation. Write tor
ou r free booklet,
Managing Your
Personal Finances.
lt will show you
the way to end those nagging finan–
cia! worries and escape the credit
trap..
o
The PLAIN TRUTH January 1977