France is over 75% nuclear and sells their excess electricity for 3 cents per KWH.
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I have to wonder if that situation would still be as good today due to the shortage of new vehicles and crazy high prices for used vehicles
+1 for that. Note even an ex GreenPeace leader came out for nukes a couple of decades ago. Better Safe than Sorry
if you have credit cards why on earth would you have debit cards?
Or visa versa. I will very seldom use a credit card. Only if I have to for hotel, car rental etc. For a large purchase I might use one just to spread the agony out for a couple months, or just to exercise them once in a while to keep them active. If you travel though, especially outside the US, you should carry both since one may not work or be susceptible to theft.
Since I came of age in 1970, I have seen the ruin that credit cards can cause people and prefer to not play their game. If you don’t borrow money it is impossible to get into financial trouble. Just me. My wife does not share my view and uses one freely but pays it when the bill comes. I don’t participate in the free gas, bonus points, airline mileage, and all the other marketing perks they throw out. We’ve had this conversation before.
A cousin teaches the Dave Ramsey money management course at his church and you would be amazed how many people have problems due to credit cards and also how many have been saved by the Ramsey system. Like him, agree with him or not, it works. Not for me though.
I use my debit card if I want cash back. Otherwise, I use my credit card.
I have both. I use my debit card if I need cash from the ATM. I use the credit cards for online purchase and get rewards points. but I pay the cards off in full every month. I don’t know how these credit card companies get away with charging such high interest rates. they are really hurting people that need to use them to get by, but do not have the funds to pay them off every month. me personally would never use them if I did not have the money to pay them off every month. unless it was an emergency. there were plenty of times I would not get something until I saved the money first. but unfortunately, some people need to use them just to be able to get food every week and get hurt by the high interest rates. it becomes an endless cycle of trying to pay them off.
Credit cards - if someone NEEDS them to get by, they really shouldn’t have them. If they’re barely able to pay them off each month, pretty soon something will come up unexpectedly, they’ll get behind, interest accrues, and it snowballs, unfortunately. We went years without a credit card. We just used a debit card. No way to get in debt. We started using credit cards a few years back just to get the cash back / points that we save up and blow on vacations. Credit cards (for the cash back) were my wife’s idea. I was skeptical at first, but a few hundred bucks a year is nice.
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We buy everything with credit cards and pay them off each month. We don’t overspend and I makes enough that buying food and gas is not a problem. If living expenses were a problem, I might think differently.
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while I agree 100 percent. let’s not forget how many people who were out of work during the height of Covid who might have had no other choice but to use them to just get through it. high interest rates could really put a hurt on some people.
The answer is not many . How much money has that clown made , lots . Also there are just too many stories about what a sorry person to work for he is .
Bing , why are you so stubborn and leaving money on the table . I see no reason to not take advantage of the Discover cash back we get .
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Like I said we’ve had this discussion before. It’s the principle of the thing. I don’t want their dirty money.
In our case it is the other way around . The credit card pays cash back . Plus the credit card has much better protection than our debit card .
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That’s the biggest reason to use credit cards. You get a level of protection that’s missing with debit cards.
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look at it this way. it is not their money, it is getting some of yours back.
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Exactly
Sure, some people get into deep financial doo-doo with credit cards, simply because they have no self-control. It’s not really that different from people who get themselves into terrible trouble as a result of their inability to control their gambling, or their drinking, or their inability to resist the lure of drugs.
Most people have sufficient self-control to avoid going into unmanageable debt, but those who don’t have adequate self-control can give credit cards a bad name. Yes, the banks are counting on you, and me, and everyone else, to screw-up, and to have to start paying them usurious interest rates on accumulated debt.
It gives me great pleasure to be able to pay off all of my cards–in full–each month, and to reap the benefit of their rebates. The banks are playing their game, and I’m playing mine, and I’m winning–to the consternation of the banks.
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… or the Amex cash back, or the Visa cash back, or the Mastercard cash back…
I normally use my AMEX Blue card to buy groceries, because it gives me a 3% rebate. However, my Mastercard will be giving a 5% rebate on grocery purchases for the months of April-June. At that point, the AMEX card will go into my safe for 3 months, and the Mastercard will take its place–in the short term–in my wallet.
I think we are talking about different cash back features. I mean walking around money. I think you mean money earned when you use the credit card. We do that with the credit card too. I can’t withdraw cash at the grocery store with my credit card.
OK , I don’t call getting cash from ATM with my bank card getting cash back .
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What do you know of Ramsey, I gave some one one of his books (did not read) to some one who really needs financial enlightenment. Is he some kind of theo oriented guru?? I am nervous now, seriously.