Economy Question....Are we in a catch 22???

[simpleyme]

Re: Economy Question....Are we in a catch 22???

I am a Dave ramsey fan
I believe that being debt free gives consumers more buying power ,when people finance things they lose the power of their money
I owe money on my house and am paying 400 dollars a month in interest to a bank,if I did not owe that I could spend it or invest it ,the money still exist I would just get to do other things with it.

as someone else pointed out DR does not really support frugality he just thinks you should spend less than you make, "rich" people call all the time asking him if they should buy things and he tells them yes

[creditcardfree]

Re: Economy Question....Are we in a catch 22???

I started watching that show also but unfortunately I had to get to bed in order to get up early for work. Was it any good?

The PBS show on Milton Friedman was okay. I was a little disappointed in that it talked more of his life events than his economic theories. I guess I will finally have to read his "Free to Chose" book. My husband read it, so I've gleamed some of the theories from him. I think you were right to go to bed than watch the show!!

[sakigt]

Re: Economy Question....Are we in a catch 22???

Generally, were saving for 3 reasons:

1) Too broke to afford things in the first place (Economy not changed)
2) Had our fun and is paying the piper (Economy got their boost whenever you spent your money)
3) Saving for retirement...or any later time (Economy will get their boost later)

:shrug:

[gackle]

Re: Economy Question....Are we in a catch 22???

I have to agree with creditcardfree and disneysteve - I was thinking what they were thinking before reading their posts. A shift in the economy is one person's boom over another person's bust. A whole different set of marketing opportunities open up, like they said about the car repair business. Just not too far back we were a manufacturing economy, but have now transitioned into a service economy. There were dire predictions about the state of the economy with all the jobs heading to Mexico and China, but yet we still have the most robust economy in the world. Because of this I think the theory that nation-wide frugality would cause a huge collapse of the economy is a slippery slope argument.

[kv968]

Re: Economy Question....Are we in a catch 22???

The PBS show on Milton Friedman was okay. I was a little disappointed in that it talked more of his life events than his economic theories. I guess I will finally have to read his "Free to Chose" book. My husband read it, so I've gleamed some of the theories from him. I think you were right to go to bed than watch the show!!

In the little bit I caught (20 minutes), I thought it was a little heavy on his life story too. I was just wondering if it ever got around to some of his theories and the impact they've had since. I guess it really didn't and now I'm glad I went to bed. Can use all the sleep I can get

I'll have to keep that "Free to Choose" book in mind. I checked it out on Amazon and it sounds interesting. I'd give it a whirl now, but I have an economics class looming in the not-so-distant future and I don't want to pre-burn myself out with all of it.