Tuesday morning...and economic news...

[curmugeon]

The failing economy is finally hitting home. Besides all the talk of furloughs and layoffs, we have more indicators that all is not well in the land of capitalist culture.

In the last few days I've been getting changes in terms on credit cards that have left me with only one acceptable option, that is to take the 'opt out' and close the accounts. It seems the credit card companies
want to balance their accounts by charging interest rates that are outrageous (19.99%).

This is not a bad thing, it means no more frivolous spending and reverting to a 'cash and carry' culture. They said credit was going to get tight, and it has. It is not that I have a bad score, just that the credit card companies don't want people to use their cards. Every day I hear another horror story from a co-worker of lower credit limits, or other financial news. I see this as only one indicator that this current economic problem is only going to get worse, as tactics like the credit card companies are using will severely curtail consumer spending, big time. The consumer culture is dead, thus a lot of 'service sector' jobs are going bye bye.

Comments

[cathy-edgett.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree. It is beyond belief what the credit card companies are charging at a time when the interest rate is non-existent. It makes no sense, and you are right. They don't want to offer credit or anything, anymore. It is sad to see a system that actually did work at one time, so wrecked by theft and greed.