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If there's one thing worse that Americans are dependent upon other than oil, it's their utter need for borrowing, particularly via credit cards.  America is a debt based society.  Just to get a car or mortgage, you need to get into debt to prove you can handle paying off debt.  Even if you make good income, without debt/a good credit rating, you can't even get a mortgage for a home.

Credit cards like to give us the illusion of something we don't have.  For a period of time, you too can be like that celebrity on television and emulate their lifestyle (which is more or less pimped up by the studios) by buying the same overrated goods as them.  However, then you become enslaved into a system that ensures you'll be productive.

Quite scary actually.

But it doesn't end there.

Credit card companies are like legalized crack dealers.  Once you try a bit of it, they want to get you more hooked by hitting you with things like balance transfers, cash back deals, points, etc.  And they have tons of things in fine print that you won't detect until one day you realize that you've made no progress on paying your ever increasing debt back.

This is what Obama apparently wants to stop.

At least, the lending practices, the fine print and the transparency issues that have been negatively associated with credit card companies.

My thoughts to Obama: good luck!

Let's face it.  Credit card companies are some of the dirtiest players around.  You may recall a few years back how credit card companies had successfully lobbied to make it harder for people to declare bankruptcy.  And let's not forget Fight Club's last message of blowing up the credit card companies to set everyone back to zero.  Why?  Create a level playing field.

Already we're seeing these companies cry and whine and even try using FUDs by saying that cleaning these practices up may hurt the speed of the recovery.  I say fuck the credit card companies and let them take their chances in the ocean of sharks that they've brought.

But I am scared of these people.  They wouldn't hesitate to send the repo man after a homeless person if they thought that homeless person had a penny that they could profit from.

In contrast to my previous blog about the aspect of Japan I didn't like, I have to say one aspect that I truly admire about Japan is that they are not a debt based society.  I think many card companies there force you to pay your card back at the end of the month, rather than charging you an interest rate that you gradually pay back (but in truth continuously rack up debt).  More importantly, most people use cash still.  The message there is that you spend what you have, not what think you that you deserve.

Americans should take a cue there from the Japanese and learn that purchasing on whim isn't a great idea.  I've practically given up credit card usage, except the occasionally gas charge, restaurant or Lego.  But I make damn sure that I never go beyond a certain amount and that I can pay off my debt within 2 months at the most.

I like Obama's other message in this about wanting Americans to save money.  It's actually a nice thing to hear.  I've been doing that myself and not needlessly splurging.  Since the dot com days, I felt that America had moved into an ultra-consumerist society where people feel compelled to spend.  Hopefully, this recession and this administration both can curb people's senses.