I read an amazing thing today--we are not going broke!

If you owe money, you're not just broke... you're in debt. I don't see the logic in us not being poor because we're able to borrow lots of money. Eventually, whoever you owe money to is going to want their money back and you'll either have to go into more debt (borrow more money) or wise up and pay it off. One of the first things anyone in financial counseling will tell you is "Stop the bleeding!", or in other words... quit borrowing money and getting into even more debt that you can't pay. I agree, the goal of individuals and nations should be to have cash reserves and very little debt. That way they are financially independent and owe no one.

The amazing thing is that there are so many politicians and journalists making these poor excuses! You know what debt America has. It doesn't matter if every TV and radio station, or every newspaper and magazine, makes up these stories, the debt will still be there! Who are they trying to convince? The Americans, the Chinese, or Aliens from outer space? Americans have printed Monopoly money Dollars. The Chinese hold more than half of your real Dollars, Aliens are the only ones who can save you!

You're not missing a thing. If a household or a government can't pay its own way, it's broke. As in BROKE. If you have a mortgage, a car payment, a payment on the TV and one on the bedroom suite, and you have to use the credit card to buy clothes... you're broke, no matter what games you play with your money - or lack of it. What makes it even worse is that the government is a different thing from a household. A government can levy taxes, print money and so on. (Just try that for your household!) This guy either doesn't know what he's talking about, or he has lived and believed the lies so long that he actually thinks that being broke means you have lots of bills. Isn't that what he said, in reality?

Personally this statement really makes you wonder as what they consider POOR? I know that there are many people who are homeless due to loosing jobs, etc. that are POOR but to personally keep on allowing the US to borrow money at such an astrinomical rate and have no one be worried about jobs, homes, etc. It makes me wonder who really is thinking all this, and in control and what will it take for them to ever wake up?

I agree with you.I see no reason why they considered a family that is up to its neck in debt not to go broke.For anybody ,they ought to do their best to make both ends meet and don't borrow money as far as possible no matter whether it is negative interest rates or not.And that,nowadays inflation spirals inexorably on many place.

hi dear dragon thought along these lines too. If this theory is true, so why were we, the "middle aged to older generation" always taught by our parents to not overspend to manage and budget our money? I have always budgeted my money, starting with my allowance when I was about 9 years old, being thrifty most of the time with that stuff. I have never been in debt so far. I save up till I can afford things which cost a bit more. There is some for rainy days and extras. Like for the first weekend in August. Its my sis in laws bday and a special one too. she will celebrate saturday and I said to my husband we dont spend much so take money from our vacations savings book and get us this nice hotel room for two nights so we get there Friday morning and have an extra day to ourselves. Then we will celebrate with Edith and stay at the hotel overnight so we dont need to leave early and then Sunday lets get home happy and refreshed......

This is one thing that has always got me. If you have to borrow money to pay for something as in a loan, etc. it does not mean you are rich. It discusts me to no end how the US Economy with Obama feels this way. After they bailed out the Banks, the banks charge more for Interest rates, fees, etc. and no one seems to care? The auto makers big boss makes millions while everyone else suffers? Personally it makes no sense to me, and the RICH should be made to contribute more and pay their taxes, etc. Quit leaving it to the little guy, and blaming it all on us. And have the President quit thinking everything is alright, and his Economy is making things better. (Not by the looks of my books.)

I, too, would think that a family that had high debts was broke. If your income doesn't meet your expenses, that's not a great financial position to be in, period. It doens't matter if the banks are willing to lend you money.

we have all heard of good debt and bad debt but what you are talking about doesn't make sense to me. i just finished reading a book about personal debt. it seems that many north americans are trying to maintian a lifestyle that they cannot afford by using credit or borrowed money. i find that is what the governments seem to be doing too

Unless I'm reading this wrong...you are right. I am working on being debt free. I have good credit and because of that, the "credit card people" are always sending me offers. I'm by no means rich. I just live as simple as possible and do take care of any debt I've incurred and so have preserved my credit standing. The low interest rate they offer is usually only for a limited amount of time after which you will be paying regular interest. And quite often, you have to spend a certain amount to get that rate. If I were to bite one of those offers then I'd be in so much trouble. I almost think they do it deliberate

Debt is debt no matter how you dress it up. One of the reasons that we are in this economic mess is that we tried to borrow our way out...and it caught up with us.

i see just what you are saying and i understand the truth of america going broke. my son explains it to me all the time just what position we are in. according to him, China owns us, even though its not official or known by all we owe them billions maybe trillions, etc. and they didnt even have to go to war. if they ever asked for all their money back they would own us. but he also says not to worry they wont ask it because of all the business we have over there im not good about financial things so i dont completely understand, so its like all Dutch language to me sometimes i just let on like i do so he will stop trying to exp;ain things i cant comprehend. maybe hes wrong or maybe its just the part i cant understand about what hes saying. but just dont ever get into a discussion on finance with him. its an all day discussion. lol

Hiya dragon, That is quite amazing because here we have a huge problem they have given to us. They are not borrowing money to anyone in particular. Some are just getting by and only just with the Mortgage and the Rent that now have an Insurance Policy you have to pay with interests without you cannot rent a House or Flat in a lot of places now. I don´t like loans but I see that Business Men use them a lot from what they were saying. A whole Factory has closed down here now for good because the Workers did not want to take less money. So their Customers said bye bye to them and now they are without Clients so they have had to shut down altogether no one is loaning them anything out. I don´t have to tell what state the Economy is in over here. I know it´s rough there too. At the moment they are hitting out at the most fragile and weakest People. Like People who only earn 400 Euros for taking care of someone 24 hours a Day they will take 15 percent of that away from them. The self employed are having to pay now 21 per cent of a special tax they all have to pay another really hard hit section. They will not get loans any of them because of their dire situation. Really glad if People there can get help but it seems like we the ordinary people are going to have to pay out after all for what the Banks did. xxx

Consider the source. The lefties have no clue. We are not going broke, and neither did Greece and Spain. This guy is an idiot. Are debt is increasing faster that we can pay it off, this is a bad situation, but they want to spend-spend-spend.

many people believe that access to money is equivalent to greater assets. there is some truth that one may consider rich if s/he is allowed to have access to huge amount of money by banks and other financial institutions. real wealth is in the capacity to pay the loanable debts and not on the actual possession of wealth. for example, a worker who has a house through loan is richer than a worker who can not make a loan for a house.

dragon 54U oh boy do they use rose colored glasses wow. b ut you do make good sense If our country is not going broke how come we owe trillions in debt, that is not a sign of prosperity at all. They need to take off t he rose tinted glasses and look at the real facts.If families have to borrow and are already heav ly in debt no they are not prosperous at all.

I agree with you.

credit is a liability, not an asset

People are finally realizing that debt is bad, why do you think financial advise is so popular now? People are listening to Dave Ramsey and people like him and sucking it up and getting out of debt and not getting loans because when they're out of debt they have money. The real reason the economy is in bad shape is because all the money people would be spending is actually going to credit card companies because when times were "good" people spent money they didn't have, now they're all paying for it.