Credit Card Debt

750 Words3 Pages
Credit card debt is one of the key factors that have brought our country where it is today. If you compare lifestyles of the 1950's and lifestyles of today, there is an immense difference. College grads are leaving school with double amount of debt than before. As well, many people are told that in order to buy big ticket items like a home or car, they must take out a credit card to build their credit. This attitude has caused people in biting off more than they can handle. Credit card debt is the ubiquitous thread to the economic crisis America is facing today. When we look at earlier years like the 50’s and 60’s, credit card debt was unheard of. Families survived on one paycheck while the mom stayed at home. These families were able to save money to acquire items such as homes and cars. When we look at households today, many families are living paycheck to paycheck so savings is not an option but more like a luxury. Both parents work but I believe that the standard of living is vastly different. Credit cards have given families the capability to buy more items such as flat screen TVs for each room and be able to have more entertainment options. When we look at a family in the 1950’s, they were lucky to have one TV in the house and entertainment was more like playing board games with their children or playing outside. The dependency on credit cards has affected our society in a negative way. Many years built up to the recession of today. Take for example the life of a young adult at 21 years of age. That young adult graduates with student loans and credit card debt. They obtain a job, buy their first car and move out of their parents’ house. They use their credit cards to buy fast food or drinks on a Friday night while only paying the minimum amount due on their credit cards. Fast-forward fifteen years and many of them are still using credit cards to maintain
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