149 lines
8.0 KiB
Plaintext
149 lines
8.0 KiB
Plaintext
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= F.U.C.K. - Fucked Up College Kids - Born Jan. 24th, 1993 - F.U.C.K. =
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FREE DEBT, NO SYMPATHY
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----------------------
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Written for F.U.C.K
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(2/10/95)
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I could not imagine what life would be like without a credit
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card. I usually only carry around twenty dollars in my wallet
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and charge just about everything over ten dollars on my credit
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card. Who wants to waste time walking into a gas station-I just
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use my credit card in that pay and pump machine. Writing checks
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take too much time and they always ask for identification plus it
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is a pain to carry around a checkbook. I only use checks to
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order stuff through mail and pay bills-why get bogged down in
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stores writing checks? It surprises me to see so many people
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using checks when credit cards are accepted almost everywhere.
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Perhaps the reason a lot of people are using checks is because of
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their tendency to abuse credit cards. Every once in awhile a
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statistic comes out about how 75% of credit card owners carry a
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balance (i.e. only pay the minimum). I am not sure of the exact
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figure but it is ridiculously high and so is the amount these
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people owe. "HELLO, HELLO, anyone home in there" is what I keep
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thinking. These people are spending more than they can afford
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and paying huge amounts of interest because they can't pay off
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their balances. Before you start feeling sorry for people
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like this let me tell you a true story about a friend of mine who
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I warned early on about credit and debt.
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Joe and I met freshman year in college-we were roommates. Joe
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had an Aunt who saw him through college and made sure he had
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enough money for food, tuition, and etc. I guess Joe felt this
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was not enough and proceeded to get a job during his first
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semester to help pay for college as well as have some extra
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spending money. Joe worked off and on (mostly on) during his
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five years in college. The sad thing is I don't believe he saved
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a dime during his whole college working experience. He even
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bounced a number of checks and he never wanted to ask his Aunt to
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help bail him out (pride?). At the beginning of semesters Joe
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had plenty of cash but by the end, without fail, Joe was
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struggling to get by and often found himself eating just Noodles
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because of his excessive spending during the first part of the
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semester. This trend continued and in our final year I knew bad
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things were about to happen when Joe had his Aunt give him the
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years rent up front. Sure enough Joe's rent money ran out about
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three months earlier than expected after he purchased an
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expensive printer. Time and time again I tried to convince Joe
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not to make such irrational and impulsive purchases. I only
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succeeded in delaying those impulses for a few days-if that.
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During most of those college years Joe had credit cards and was,
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of course, always paying on debt.
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All that working, his Aunts support and never once do I recall
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Joe ever being debt free. On more than one occasion I told Joe
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he better take control now or he will be in debt for a long time,
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even when making thirty thousand plus a year. Don't impulse
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spend, think it out, and definitely don't spend more than you can
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afford. All the while Joe did not listen but at least he had
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everything he wanted-right?
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I can't remember the full details but I think Joe left college
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debt free after a final bail out from his Aunt. This depleted
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his college "expense" account the Aunt held for Joe but at least
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Joe entered the working world on a good note.
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Joe held moderate paying jobs (about $6 an hour) until he landed
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a job in his field a year later. During this year Joe managed to
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not only survive but to increase his material wealth and once
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again go face forward into debt. A motorcycle, computer upgrade,
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and who knows what else landed Joe about $5000 in debt before he
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got a job in his field paying over $30,000. Things were starting
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to look better-or were they?
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Joe stayed at my house during his job relocation and my whole
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family-especially my mom-talked to him about his finances. Maybe
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Joe would take someone else's advice for a change? Well,
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apparently not. He moved into an apartment, got himself a
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girlfriend (who he later married), and his debt more than doubled
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all the while.
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It is now about a year and eight months since Joe has had that
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high paying job. He is about $12,000 in debt and has a wife who
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is currently not working. Most of the new debt went into the
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ring for his wife, the rest of it went into his stomach as Joe
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has gained 70 pounds since beginning work.
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Too often I find myself talking to Joe about money issues-like a
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trip of a lifetime to Las Vegas which would have cost him less
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than $300 for four nights. Joe declined the trip saying he did
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not have enough money. Yet, a few weeks later Joe purchased a
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color scanner for around the same price he could have visited
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Vegas!?!? Joe is not a stupid person either-he did very well in
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college without too much effort. He, like many people this day
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and age, are stupid on the financial side of things. Not to
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mention he does not like to take good advice. I guess I'm just
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as thick skulled trying to offer him advice again and again.
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Maybe I need to use reverse psychology-tell him not to do
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something when I think it will benefit him.
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I hope you can learn a little from this story: Don't spend more
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than you have, don't eat your way into debt, don't impulsive buy
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expensive items if it will cause discomfort down the road, listen
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to what people are telling you, and of course think things
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through. A credit card is just a tool of the corporate masses.
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Use it correctly and it will serve you well, use it incorrectly
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and you will serve the corporate masses. Debt = Servitude. If
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you take pay then you must obey and if you must obey they you are
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essentially a slave. Get out of debt and have a choice.
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Visit http://www.smart.net/~banneker and check out "Little Free
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Press" for an interesting concept on how to become free of the
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system.
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Charge it,
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Pallbearer
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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= Questions, Comments, Bitches, Ideas, Rants, Death Threats, etc etc... =
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= Internet : jericho@netcom.com (Mail is welcome) =
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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= gote land +27.31.441115 =
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= Arrested Development +31.77.3547477 =
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= Chemical Persuasion 203.324.0894 Celestial Woodlands 214.252.6455 =
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= that stupid place 215.985.0462 Hacker's Haven 303.343.4053 =
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= E.L.F. (NUP) 314.272.3426 Misery 318.625.4532 =
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= Dungeon Sys. Inc. 410.263.2258 Psykodelik Images 407.834.4576 =
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= Paradise Lost 414.476.3181 Black SunShine 513.891.3465 =
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= underworld_1995.com 514.683.1894 Digital Fallout 516.378.6640 =
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= PSYCHOSiS 613.836.7211 Bad Trip 615.870.8805 =
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= Plan 9 716.881.3663 suicidal chaos 718.592.1083 =
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= Phallic Paradise 801.944.7353 Purple Hell 806.791.0747 =
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= Atrocity Exhibition 905.796.3385 Phoenix Modernz 908.830.8265 =
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= The Keg 914.234.9674 =
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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= Files through Anonymous FTP: FTP.NETCOM.COM - /pub/je/jericho/FUCK =
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= FTP.WINTERNET.COM - /users/craigb/fuck =
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= FTP.GIGA.OR.AT - /pub/hackers/zines/FUCK =
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= ETEXT.ARCHIVE.UMICH.EDU - /pub/Zines/FUCK =
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= Files through WWW: ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/je/jericho/jericho.html =
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