Congress Went to Denmark, You Got the Bill

[Cerek]

My dad always told me "You can't borrow your way out of debt and you can't drink yourself sober".

Words to live by. .

[Lord of Alcohol]

Originally Posted by Cerek My dad always told me "and you can't drink yourself sober". Words to live by. .

But you can sure try

[SpiritWarrior]

It's interesting that people say things like this but always refer to their grandma or grandpa, mother or father when attributing the credit, but never to themselves. I myself have heard it from elders in my own family whilst growing up and have seen it said by a few people in these threads more than once.

Frankly, this is an old, outdated and overly-simplistic point of view for a generation long past.

While this mentality correctly urges caution in "borrowing from Peter to pay Paul" as my own grandmother puts it, they fail to take into account inflation and debt as it stands today both for businesses worldwide, and for a single person living with the financial commitments that didn't exist back when. The modern citizen would find it alot harder to apply such a narrow mentality to the more complicated problems of our time. Like I said, back then, things were less complex, and were sorted pretty quickly by using this rule of thumb. It has its uses, but is becoming less useful as time passes.

I would submit a revised version. "Do not borrow more than you can handle from Peter, to pay back Paul". But not borrowing money to get yourself out of debt from a less hostile lender? People do it all the time. Unless of course, you have never had a mortgage. Or asked your parents, siblings or friends to spot you $100 until you get paid. Or developed a payment plan with a company whilst incurring late charges and interest. Not to mention people who take out personal loans from banks or credit-unions. Modern society has made such things standard practice nowadays. In principal, it sounds awesome. But in reality, it is just not the case.

Sure, there are some frugal, old-school people still around, who keep their money in a box under their bed, and pay the 3 bills they have every month steadily and consistantly, living a simple life and making no major changes for most of their life. But it's worth noting that anyone I know who lives this way belongs to an older generation. When factors like the economic troubled times of today are prevalent, it is hard to plan for the unexpected.

[John D Harris]

Originally Posted by Cerek My dad always told me you can't drink yourself sober".

Originally Posted by Lord of Alcohol But you can sure try

LOL, but do you remember trying

[Cerek]

Originally Posted by SpiritWarrior It's interesting that people say things like this but always refer to their grandma or grandpa, mother or father when attributing the credit, but never to themselves. I myself have heard it from elders in my own family whilst growing up and have seen it said by a few people in these threads more than once. Frankly, this is an old, outdated and overly-simplistic point of view for a generation long past. While this mentality correctly urges caution in "borrowing from Peter to pay Paul" as my own grandmother puts it, they fail to take into account inflation and debt as it stands today both for businesses worldwide, and for a single person living with the financial commitments that didn't exist back when. The modern citizen would find it alot harder to apply such a narrow mentality to the more complicated problems of our time. Like I said, back then, things were less complex, and were sorted pretty quickly by using this rule of thumb. It has its uses, but is becoming less useful as time passes. I would submit a revised version. "Do not borrow more than you can handle from Peter, to pay back Paul". But not borrowing money to get yourself out of debt from a less hostile lender? People do it all the time. Unless of course, you have never had a mortgage. Or asked your parents, siblings or friends to spot you $100 until you get paid. Or developed a payment plan with a company whilst incurring late charges and interest. Not to mention people who take out personal loans from banks or credit-unions. Modern society has made such things standard practice nowadays. In principal, it sounds awesome. But in reality, it is just not the case. Sure, there are some frugal, old-school people still around, who keep their money in a box under their bed, and pay the 3 bills they have every month steadily and consistantly, living a simple life and making no major changes for most of their life. But it's worth noting that anyone I know who lives this way belongs to an older generation. When factors like the economic troubled times of today are prevalent, it is hard to plan for the unexpected.

Sorry, SW, but it is possible to live relatively debt free with a few exceptions. House, car and college being the three actual needs I can think of for legitimately borrowing money.

The adage is still just as applicable to current times as it was 50 years ago. Transferring balances from one credit card to another does nothing to eliminate the debt, it just reduces the amount you might have to pay each month. Of course, the less you pay, the longer it's gonna take to pay off that balance. In the meantime, consumers still go out and buy more wants on the lower interest card, so there total debt still doesn't go down, it just gets moved around. The point is there comes a time when you simply have to STOP buying stuff if you don't have the money to pay for it.

Times have changed and it is the very rare person that has enough money to buy a car or pay for college out of their bank account, but much of that is their own fault.

[SpiritWarrior]

Originally Posted by Cerek Sorry, SW, but it is possible to live relatively debt free with a few exceptions. House, car and college being the three actual needs I can think of for legitimately borrowing money. The adage is still just as applicable to current times as it was 50 years ago. Transferring balances from one credit card to another does nothing to eliminate the debt, it just reduces the amount you might have to pay each month. Of course, the less you pay, the longer it's gonna take to pay off that balance. In the meantime, consumers still go out and buy more wants on the lower interest card, so there total debt still doesn't go down, it just gets moved around. The point is there comes a time when you simply have to STOP buying stuff if you don't have the money to pay for it. Times have changed and it is the very rare person that has enough money to buy a car or pay for college out of their bank account, but much of that is their own fault.

While this doesn't seem to be your intention at the beginning of your post, you appear to be in 100% agreement with me. You mentioned nothing that I didn't - just said it another way (i.e. it was possible to live debt-free with some exceptions, and then you listed the exact necessities I was referring to). What am I missing here?

[Sparhawk]

I've got a friend who owns a small hotel in downtown Copenhagen - yes I am danish - and he did the same stunt - if you wanted a room in during the congress it would be for a minimum of 6 days.
He was sold out about 2 days after the summit was planned.

[Timber Loftis]

Originally Posted by Cerek My dad always told me "You can't borrow your way out of debt and you can't drink yourself sober". Words to live by. .

I'm going to buy up all the whiskey I can find and spend the weekend proving you wrong.