US Navy: Socialism = terrorism

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Consumer debt (not including mortgage, student, medical debt) is almost always completely avoidable. The things I saw as a bankruptcy paralegal were mind-boggling.

Credit scores don’t amount to much when applying for credit cards, which you can use for grocery shopping and then discharge through bankruptcy. Many clients that I saw would file another Chapter 13 at the earliest opportunity after completing the max 60 months of a previous one. What blew my mind back then was how credit card companies would approve them for credit cards at all. I remember once I got a credit card with 0% that I maxed out, collected rewards, made minimum payments. My plan was to transfer the balance to another 0% card after the 12 month period was over and continue to earn cash on it. I was right on schedule and waited about a month or two before attempting to apply for a new card. I was in shock that I got declined, I’d never heard of that happening, and my credit score was high. It still is, unfortunately... I lost my job shortly after and had to come up with a way to pay it off quickly while I still could. That’s why I was so confused that people could so easily get credit cards they had no intention of paying off. Not only that, but these people had a HISTORY of chain-filing bankruptcy and still getting approved, but all I wanted to do was a transfer and keep paying my card down while getting cash back. Wouldn’t it make better sense to stick with a customer who you wouldn’t make money on rather than a bad-faith customer you know you’ll lose money on?

Debt in the USA is absurd and weird. I loosely follow Dave Ramsey’s strategies for managing debt. In about a year and a half I intend to pay off all my wife’s student loans, and we should be free of medical debt by then as well. We have a cheeeeeap mortgage. The reasoning behind the mortgage is that it is cheaper than paying rent on a 30 year plan. If I change jobs, I can afford two mortgages until one house gets sold, and any equity we have can easily go to realtors’ fees. We have no intention to actually pay it off, though owning real property is kinda cool. But if rent was actually feasible for us, we’d gladly get an apartment instead. Used cars, though, are easily affordable. Pretty much anyone in the USA can get a ride without going into debt.

I speak truth. For providers to stay solvent they have to have an income from what they do. If there are non-payers, the cost goes up for those who can pay. Non-payers can’t pay, anyway, which leaves wealthier folks to cover the cost. Don’t forget, too, that there are government programs out there to help many of those who can’t pay. Non-payers are the exception, not the rule. My point was that people who are unable to cover medical expenses still have access to care whether they can pay or not.

I think that invading another country is a poor life decision. The proper role of government is to protect its own civilians, not meddle in foreign affairs.

I believe if a nation chooses to invade another nation, it best should do so with the intention of expanding its own territory, else invaders are tasked with building their own new nation. If neither conquerors nor natives stand to benefit from invasion, then doing so is stupid. The United States is such a nation that vastly improved lives of both native and colonist. Nothing good can come from the continued occupation of Iraq or Afghanistan. Our partnership with, say, Seoul has proven mutually beneficial. No such relationship has developed in the Middle East. I say let them go, strengthen our presence on our own soil. And if anyone attacks us, show no mercy. But if you have no designs on conquering a nation, don’t bother trying to occupy it.

You are not wrong.

Congresscritter innocent? XD don't make me chuckle.