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How much is that auto on the corner, the one that says 30 months to pay?
While I was stopped at a red light, I was intrigued by a little yellow car on a sales lot at the corner. To appease my curiosity, I looked for the price.
To my surprise, all of the cars on the lot, instead of a price, had a price per month for 30 months listed. The light changed, and I was on the move again, passing other car dealers offering their cars the same way, with some stretched across a longer earning period.
It is unsettling to think almost everything is being sold on the basis of future earnings. No wonder our economic system is on the rocks; all the money earned in the next 30 months is already been used up through buying with a promise to pay instead of using cash.
This is nothing new. It has been our system since colonial times. As the repaying capacity becomes too low, lending shuts down. Checks and balances? Today, lenders have lent to their limit and buyers have too much debit.
Nobody knows what will happen if the government keeps printing billions in new money based on earnings long years in the future, unchecked and unbalanced.
Lee S. Bowers
Gainesville