Some people seem compelled to demand immediate gratification
and my own opinion on the situation is that banks, automobile dealers, etc., should have some limits on their ability to take advantage of that situation. I know that in my state the maximum APR is 590% and that is outrageous. Automobiles are an absolute necessity here in Mississippi and the unwary public looks to the large dealerships when they need basic transportation and often get more than they can afford in luxury but come up short in reliability. But that’s nothing new. Lotteries, pay day loans, casinos, tote the note car lots and rent to own furniture stores keep the poor in their place. It seems such a shame.
....and my own opinion on the situation is that banks, automobile dealers, etc., should have some limits on their ability to take advantage of that situation.
While I agree that businesses and their models take advantage of the poor…I also think that knowledge is power. I’ve known some very poor people who were extremely smart with their money…and never fell for those gimmicks by these companies.
I would rather own a used car with no payments and spend $1000+ a year for repairs than to have a new car with monthly payments for 5 years.
They dont give you a 5 year bumper to bumper warranty so in addition to that monthly payment you are going to have repair costs also.Since Im going to have to pay for the repair costs anyway I would rather not have the monthly payments too.Theres no guaranty that the 3-4 year old car that you bought new and are making payments on wont start to need a lot of repairs by the time it`s 5 years old and you make the last payment.
The fewer parts there are the fewer things there are that can brake and need repair.new cars are loaded up with gizmos,gadgets, sensors and computers all of which can brake and cost a lot to repair.
I look at it like this, a $350 a month payment is $3700 a year, I can do a lot of repairs on a paid for used car for $3700 a year.For $3700 a year I could buy a brand new engine every year for my used car and still have money left over every year
My nissan is 21 years old and still runs and looks great, I spend an average of about $800-$1000 a year for parts and paid for repairs, but that`s still a lot cheaper than $3700 a year for car payments.
Any way you look at it borrowing money to buy a new car is a bad investment and a bad idea.
@irlandes–" He discovered that studies show there is random correlation between merit pay as rated by the supervisors, and actual performance as measured by neutral outside researchers".
Your economics professor got it right. Merit pay, at least at the university where I taught, was a way to keep faculty member in line. Before merit pay was put in place at my institution, there was collegiality among the faculty. There was a salary scale and a person at a particular rank with the same years of experience received the same salary no matter what department the faculty member was employed. After the salary schedule was replaced with merit pay, it was every professor out for himself. I’ve seen departments dismiss or try to dismiss faculty who weren’t yet on tenure who were outstanding because the older faculty were jealous of the newcomers. I can see how this same practice might happen in industry.
I recognize that my personal inclinations regarding money have benefited me, @Mike. And I recognize that a great many people suffer due to their poor management of money. And although I have no intentions of spending my little nest egg to bail out those who mismanage their money I do expect that our leaders put some limits on the financial predators who prey on the weak. Those tote the note car lots don’t really carry the loans even if they handle the payments and the laws on repossession and the ease that creditors have to dog debtors into submission is ridiculous. Tennessee Ernie Ford’s song is more true today than it was 55 years ago.
I’m a pea picker. 16 Tons caught my attention at a very early age, and Ernie Ford is still my favorite male singer 55 years later. I’m not so fond of his major body of work (gospel), but his voice is magnificent, especially in 16 Tons. Thanks for reminding me.
My wife has made me the richest man in the world. I’ve never concerned myself with what others have because I know that what my wife and I have is more than I ever imagined that I would ever have. We have never borrowed money to “keep up with the Joneses” because we have always been happy with what we have. I feel like Porgy in George Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” when Porgy sings “I’ve got plenty of nothing and nothing’s plenty for me”. This attitude has kept us debt free. We both grew up both rich and poor. Neither of our families had much money, but the skills we learned in doing things for ourselves and not wanting everything we saw on the shelves in the store made us rich. We have what we want, but we don’t want very much.
@insightful–Thank you for the video with Tennessee Ernie Ford. The song “16 Tons” came out when I was a freshmen in high school and I really liked it. Tennessee Ernie had a show on television in the late 1950s that, ironically, was sponsored by Ford Motor Company. I remember one commercial on the show with Tennessee Ernie standing by a 1958 Ford and extolling its virtues.
@Rod Knox–the company store really took advantage of the miners. They were practically forced to buy their supplies at the store owned by the mining company and to have running accounts. The mining company often charged terribly inflated prices to the workers and much of their pay went back to the mining company. About 15 years ago, my wife and I toured an abandoned mining town and part of the tour included the company store.
I remember my parents talking about the strike led by John L. Lewis right after WW II. My maternal grandmother lived with us and was quite conservative. She really hated John L. Lewis for depriving us of coal to heat our houses. His picture was on the cover of Time magazine and my grandmother showed the picture to my little brother who sucked his thumb. My grandmother told my brother that if he kept sucking his thumb, he would be ugly like John L. Lewis and would show him the picture. My brother was too little to understand what she was talking about. However, I was defiant even back then and I immediately started sucking my thumb so I could look like John L. Lewis.
Just wanted to clarify. I do think that these loan companies are blood suckers, and that they will let people accumulate debt that they an never pay back.
A banker, a lawyer, and a used car salesman jumped out of an airplane…
When new car loans were 3 years that was about the length of the time people kept their car, for good reason. Now 8 year old cars seem like new.
If I wanted to make a lot of money, I would provide the financing for a buy here, pay here dealer but my consience wouldn’t let me sleep.
