Is America that Dumb?

If you have read my previous postings, you would know that I go to the gym for workouts and that I prefer to be in front of a television when pedaling faster on an elliptical machine getting that heart rate higher. On one such evening, I happened to be at the gym watching Oprah’s show. It was a show where Suze Orman was the guest and she was explaining how to make changes in our day-to-day lives to get going in this economical crunch time. Some of her tips (like having a 10-month savings before looking to own a house or putting aside a part of your paycheck towards emergency funds) were worth knowing and following but most of it is real common sense.

In that show, there were many adults who were interviewed of what their income and expenses were and how they save for that much needed times. One such participant was a recent graduate from college who was working at Starbucks full-time. She was living in an apartment by herself, driving a fully-loaded new car to work, had expensive furniture and accessories. She was carping about the fact that she was always running behind on her bills, that she could not pay her student loan, and most importantly not being able to go out partying with her friends. When I was listening to this, I could not help but simper. I will tell you why.

Is it that difficult a fact to understand that what you earn is what you spend? Even our own body knows that what you eat is what you are. Then the mind that controls our lives, does not understand this basic concept? This is basic common sense that I spend what I have in my hand. If I earn ‘X’ dollars, I have to make sure that I spend less than or equal to ‘X’ dollars, unless I don’t want to save anything for the future. But many might argue that they can use their credit cards to buy what they want even though they do not have cash on hand. That is true but they forget the fact that they have to pay for it after the 30-day period when the credit card bill comes in. Charging it on a credit card not knowing whether one can afford it or not is how US got into that much debt and let China own most of it, is it not?

A graduate working at Starbucks, telling that she is too lazy to look for a decent job is unacceptable. She had to be told by Suze that she is not earning enough money to be spending lavishly on her car and apartment and not being able to pay off her student loans. She had to be told to start looking for a decent job, move into another apartment with her friends, to get rid of her car and start using Metro and buses and not to worry about not being able to party because this is a crunch time. I saw other similar cases on the show but I just picked this one to prove my point. To understand a simple fact “to spend less than the income” an outsider had to funnel the thoughts through her, who happens to be a graduate as well. Is America really that dumb?