In Debt We Trust

This weekend I watched a documentary from 2006 that is still relevant to our current economic times. The documentary was In Debt We Trust. You can watch it on YouTube as well.

The movie talked about what would happen when the housing bubble burst...and exactly what they said in the movie would happen did. The movie talked about what would happen when there was a shortage of credit...and it happened.

To illustrate how not just poor people but rich people are affected, Lorraine Bracco from the Sopranos talked about how she had to file for bankruptcy in 1999. She said, "I was land-rich and cash-poor."

Then I watched The Debt Trap on Dateline NBC. It talked about where we are at now. Credit card debt is at an all time high because of unemployment. One couple featured use their credit cards to pay for groceries, car insurance, gas, etc. They aren't using credit cards for wants...they are using them for needs...they need them to survive day to day.

There are many people to blame for our current economic crisis but at the end of the day it's all about personal accountability. So you can blame the banks, credit card companies, mortgage companies, Wall Street...whoever...but look at yourself and how your own situation/spending behaviors may have contributed as well. I understand emergencies, unexpected things happen all the time. I understand losing a job. But part of personal accountability is having a plan. Plan to keep your credit card charging to a minimum, plan to live on less, have a plan to pay back what you charge.