I think a lot of the blame has to do with lenders. Lenders receive too much default protection, especially with personal loans, where consumer bankruptcy protection is not strong enough. There is a very strong belief that a person must always pay back their debts, but there are certainly many reasons why someone should not be compelled to repay their debts. When lenders are forced to take losses, they will stop making risky loans. If I walk in a bank and request a personal loan for $1 million with the plan to bet it on red/black, the bank must be accepting this risk, as no reasonable bank would make this loan. Forcing banks to take on more risk is the only thing that will prevent risky loans from being offered. When banks are allowed to offer risky loans and not take on enough of the risk, they will lend money without thinking. This creates a modern feudal society, where laborers pay tribute to money lenders, who in return receive economic and social privileges.

Reminds me of the old saying - "You borrow a thousand dollars the bank owns you. You borrow a million dollars, you own the bank."

There are certainly a different set of rules in place for a certain group of people that do not exist for the average consumer borrower. Predatory hedge-fund corps can literally borrow a million dollars with almost no questions asked, and literally place it all on red-or-black (like investing in risky startups, or dumping it in high risk CDO's bundled with sub-prime mortgages for example). They create shell corporations to do it through, and if it comes up snake eyes on them can do a trump and file bankruptcy and dissolve the shell. Meanwhile the banks get bailout fed money and then lather rinse repeat.

Meanwhile some working class guy gets a small loan for a car, runs into tough times and gets the car repoed, loses all the money and gets put on the hook for the remainder of the balance after the vehicle is auctioned off. No mercy.

Like George Carlin said "its a big club - and you aint in it"

If I walk in a bank and request a personal loan for $1 million with the plan to bet it on red/black

Hmmmm... Red. Definitely Red.

Always bet on black.

I have discovered that having a house in the burbs means a lot of upkeep and expense, and that since I've been living in a flat in UAE my quality of life has improved dramatically. Similarly, the expensive German car requires expensive parts and specialized tools, meaning that you have to take it to the dealer for service rather than doing the simpler repairs yourself.

Fuck the status symbol lifestyle. I love my old cars and townhouse lifestyle. I have better uses for my money.

I blame a lot of that rampant status symbol lifestyle here in America on the whole "temporarily embarrassed millionaires" syndrome. Especially since a lot of hyper-anal parents (you know - the ones that yell at the umpire for daring to call their darling Blain out at first base) tend to buy in to the whole "if you give your kids the illusion of being wealthy and used to the finer things they will find a way to get there" myth.

I love my old beater cars too - I had a coworker comment that I tend to drive things till the wheels fall off of them.

Yeah. I have a nephew who was raised thinking it was the norm to be a Big Man who owns a large boat that he can take out with his friends and to stock it with great food and drink. His father lives that way because a) his mother is a teacher with a good solid income in special ed and b) his father bought a junker and spent every spare moment refurbishing it, and c) his father works as a cook and can get good deals on food and drink wholesale. Meanwhile the nephew doesn't have anything past a high school degree and is married to a similarly uneducated girl who's a manager at an American Eagle store. He's enlisted Navy and has two kids- and bought a boat and a camper somehow.

My kids grew up with a family who was financially stretched thin, who made do with what they could afford and refused to rack up debt. They all have degrees and work hard, and the only debt they have is car payments. (They went through school on a combination of scholarships and help from their grandparents.)

I feel that my sister did not do right by her kids by not reinforcing that this was not a normal existence for most people, and now the nephew is in debt and probably will be for life. I feel sorry for the kid on some levels in that he didn't get the memo, but at the same time he's old enough that he should have figured it out on his own.

I try to lower the pressure on my neighbors by not doing any maintenance, painting, lawn work, etc.
It wouldn't kill em to show a little gratitude.

One of the things I found most interesting in buying property in the US is that mortgage interest can be deducted from income taxes. This really promotes home ownership, but also promotes financing of bigger and bigger mortgages (given historically low borrowing rates). In retrospect it makes me question why I ever owned property in Canada or why people would rent in the US. But of course that second case is simply because many properties have become unaffordable for the majority because of the aforementioned increasing mortgage values.

I think this post should be renamed "Why rich neighbors are bad for idiots."