I guess I’ll never understand credit cards. How can companies continue issuing credit and encouraging folks to buy things they can’t afford without running into serious collection problems?
Yesterday I had two credit card offers in the mail and one over the phone, and that was a slow day. In recent weeks I’ve been offered gold, platinum, silver-plated, cadmium-coated and lead-alloy cards with affiliation to every organization known to man.

I gave them all the same answer: “We’ve got plenty of cards.” Clank!

It’s easy to see why card companies want to extend credit to people like me. We’re valued customers, members of a select group, persons of impeccable taste. (Besides that, we’re alive and breathing.)

I’m not sure when the concept of living within one’s means became outmoded, but I think television advertising has something to do with it. One has to wonder about those commercials that suggest, “You need to buy this – not because you need it, not because you can afford it. You need to buy this because you deserve it.”
Maybe I have a low opinion of myself, but I don’t think I’ve ever bought anything because I deserved it.

Last fall I watched a commercial for the company that offers money to folks who didn’t pay it back last time. This commercial features a former basketball player who has so much money I can’t understand why he does these things.

This fellow comes on the screen and asks folks with credit problems to call his company and find out how to buy things they can’t afford. He suggests a new car is something we might need, but probably can’t pay for.

“Just call this number and find out how you can buy the car you need and deserve,” he says.

I was reminded of a story my brother told me several years ago. My brother was sitting in the coffee shop chatting with an old-timer who lives nearby, when a younger man stopped by their table. The young man told them about his job and his boss, and quite a few things that weren’t going well at work.

“First, they changed my hours, then I got a new boss and now I’ve got more responsibility, but I don’t get paid any more than I did before,” he said.

The young fellow described the benefits package his company promised the new employees and all of the problems he was having with that. This fellow said he wasn’t one to complain. He just wanted to get what he deserved.

When the young fellow walked away, the old-timer turned to my brother and said, “You know, I think I’ve spent most of my life trying to avoid getting what I deserve.”

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