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Full Moon Rising: Consumer Financial Protection
By Monika Mitchell (about the author)
Become a Fan (8 fans) -- Page 2 of 6 page(s)
we could ever watch at the same time. Yet beyond that what other stuff do we have?
A closer look at the American consumer sheds a different light. The average family of four spends $25,000 on education, $20,000 on
healthcare, $10,000 on gas and electric, $5,000 on transportation and $40,000 on mortgage debt per year. Add to that total,
property taxes of $20,000 for an average three bedroom home. An ordinary middle class family living in the New York Metro area
needs $200,000 a year (before state and federal income taxes) just to get by-without eating of course. Add in food, a second car, a
second college-aged child or any medication or illness that your expensive health insurance won't cover and your financial burden
doubles.
The myth that out-of-control consumer spending created the economic collapse of the American banking system is just that-myth. The
truth is that the economic collapse that began in the U.S. and spread to economies around the globe evolved from an outdated
out-of-control American banking system-one where bankers entrap consumers for profit with high cost credit and high cost of living.
Even a "safe fixed-rate" mortgage costs consumers 150% interest when they have finished paying it off. If it takes you five years
to pay off a credit card, you are looking at usury rates of 50-100% when you are done.
The real truth is that Americans have been living on the edge for years. We borrow to cover basic cost of living expenses,
refinance our homes to send our kids to college and to pay for excessively expensive and inadequate healthcare and enormously high
housing costs. The average Metro New York three bedroom home costs $500,000. In an area with a "better" school system, it costs
$750,000-that doesn't include property taxes, or $40,000 closing costs and "rolled-in fees." Sometimes that doesn't even include
garbage pickup, mail delivery, sewage or clean water. It's expensive to live in America.
Become a Fan (8 fans) -- Page 2 of 6 page(s)
A closer look at the American consumer sheds a different light. The average family of four spends $25,000 on education, $20,000 on
healthcare, $10,000 on gas and electric, $5,000 on transportation and $40,000 on mortgage debt per year. Add to that total,
property taxes of $20,000 for an average three bedroom home. An ordinary middle class family living in the New York Metro area
needs $200,000 a year (before state and federal income taxes) just to get by-without eating of course. Add in food, a second car, a
second college-aged child or any medication or illness that your expensive health insurance won't cover and your financial burden
doubles.
The myth that out-of-control consumer spending created the economic collapse of the American banking system is just that-myth. The
truth is that the economic collapse that began in the U.S. and spread to economies around the globe evolved from an outdated
out-of-control American banking system-one where bankers entrap consumers for profit with high cost credit and high cost of living.
Even a "safe fixed-rate" mortgage costs consumers 150% interest when they have finished paying it off. If it takes you five years
to pay off a credit card, you are looking at usury rates of 50-100% when you are done.
The real truth is that Americans have been living on the edge for years. We borrow to cover basic cost of living expenses,
refinance our homes to send our kids to college and to pay for excessively expensive and inadequate healthcare and enormously high
housing costs. The average Metro New York three bedroom home costs $500,000. In an area with a "better" school system, it costs
$750,000-that doesn't include property taxes, or $40,000 closing costs and "rolled-in fees." Sometimes that doesn't even include
garbage pickup, mail delivery, sewage or clean water. It's expensive to live in America.
www.good-b.com
Monika Mitchell is the Chief Executive Officer of Good-b (Good Business International)a leading new media company xcelerating the movement for better business for a better world.
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
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Consumer protection
by Sister Begonia on Sunday, Jun 28, 2009 at 10:42:56 AM