2008/10/2 Gerhard Fiedler : > I think that's it. If all the (public and private) debt in the US had been > taken out for things like a college education or similar "values", I think > the economy would be in better shape :) That's an interesting thought, but a lender can't reposses a college education nor anything else of such an intangible nature. I suppose you could argue that a lender could be allowed to garnish wages in the same manner the state is allowed to in order to recoup its money but that would be a long term exercise. Sending the debt collectors around to take your Car, TV or home cinema system is OK. Sending a surgeon around to lobotomise you is probably not-so where's the deterrant stoping borrowers from defaulting on loans for intangible purchases? The deterrant should be that the loan is secured on an asset of value like a home or car but credit cards and unsecured loans are easy to come by. I think it's pretty amusing really, pain and suffering of the population aside. I'm a responsible borrower. I have credit cards which I use rarely, in emergencies or for the occasional internet purchase, or where I just want 54 days free credit. I dont use them much, and every couple of months over the past few years I've had letters from my card companies.. we've increased your limit.. whcih is great. I could buy a small house by now on credit alone. The only time they bother me is to ask if I'd like payment protection insurance at some ridiculous percentage of any monthly balance I might have. My usual answer is 'It's not my money, it's yours! Why would I want to pay to insure it?!' I'm sure the card companies have offered the same incentives to many others to encourage them to spend when common sense was obviously telling them not to. Things will only get worse as people with unused credit are forced to use it to deal with economic hardship. Sure, nobody thinks defaulting on a loan is going to do any harm to such large corporations, but when everybody starts doing it ? I dread to think. I read last week in the Washington Post that 10% of homeowners with mortgages are a month or mone behind in their payments. It sounded pretty bad. I don't know what the figure would have been last year, but I'm pretty confident that the US Economy is going to get much worse before it starts to recover. -- Jon Baker -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist