$3,000 for every man, woman and child
As usual, politics and the economy became topics of conversation after the family dinner yesterday. One of Jeanine’s relatives mentioned that the better stimulus plan would have been to give $1M to each citizen instead of the package that got signed earlier this year. Of course, nobody challenged his math.
Everyone looked around the table and some of us rattled off what we would do with a million dollars. Jeanine and I would pay off our mortgage. Her brother said that eliminating his student loan debt was at the top of his list.
I listened and figured I would search the Internet this morning for the source of that idea and one million actually pushes the total into the trillions, not billions:
I like your math; I wish you were making change at the store. To make it easy let’s say it was 900 billion, there are 300 million people in the US, that’s $3,000 for every man woman and child. Still pretty good, but not a million per person.
Three thousand just doesn’t have the same thrust as $1M, but it got me thinking about what this might mean to most people.
Americans carry more than $700 billion in revolving debt like bank credit cards and retail cards.
While I’ve read that the average American carries more than $8,000 in credit card debt, Liz Pulliam Weston writes that this number is $2,000 or less for most households.
If the government wiped your credit card debt (regardless of the amount) clean, how would this change your life? Would this be enough to stimulate your personal economy and get you back on track?
Photo credit: stock.xchng.
Hmmm. It wouldn’t make much difference in my life except to make me think I’ve been making mistakes by not using credit cards. I carry one credit card which I pay off 3-4 times a month. Right now I think the balance is about $250 or maybe $300 because we needed oil changes and 15,000 miles service on the cars (which we own outright).
So, I’d be kind of pissed if people who bought flat-screen TVs and stuff got their bills all wiped out. I want to be more liberal but I also want for everyone to be responsible.
I’m with Debra. We don’t carry large credit card debt. Right now we have about $200 on credit cards for wedding expenses, which will be paid off this month. So if we got $3000, it would most likely go into our joint savings account. We’re responsible with our money. People who run up huge credit card debts buying things they don’t need shouldn’t be given a free pass, imho. I can sympathize with people who have been buying gas and groceries on credit because their paychecks haven’t kept up with the cost of living. I can sympathize with people who are in debt because they have unpaid medical bills. But my bleeding heart just doesn’t go out to people living beyond their means. Sorry.
I am a consumer who lives within his means, so I make sure my balance never grows so large that I cannot pay it in full every month. So wiping out credit card debt wouldn’t do any good for me.
Yes. Not having my credit card debt will change my life. I should get there on my own within the next four years.
Currently, my minimum per month to my credit cards is $450/month.
It’s good to hear the number of commenters without or minimal credit card debt.
Liz: We’ve spoken before about how debt has impacted your life. It’s good to hear that your payoff goal has a defined timeline… that’s a big part of the battle and even though 4 years might seem a long way off, I’ve known you for at least two or three years now… just proving how quickly time passes by.
Thank you. It does seem longer than I’d like and far away. It’s frustrating when I think about it. But I’m getting there. Mostly, it’s great to finally have it under control and at lower rates so I’m actually making steady progress and not feeling like I’m hopelessly drowning.