How much longer can we keep fooling ourselves into thinking increasing our debt isn’t going to come up and firmly attach its canines to our posteriors?
While Canada isn’t in the same debt quagmire in which our southern brothers find themselves, Canadians overall, excluding mortgages, carry an average personal debt of approximately $26,000, spread across credit cards, lines of credit and personal loans.
While many parents will bemoan the lack of action versus consequence thinking that plagues many of the younger generations, or the sense of entitlement that some of us witness, we’re not seeing much smarter decisions from the adults in our midst.
Yes, things are more expensive and the cost of living hasn’t increased along with the uptick in consumer goods, however, too many seem to believe that it’s perfectly fine to live well beyond our means.
We work hard, we deserve nice things, regular vacations, and newer vehicles more frequently. And why save the cash when credit is so readily available?
Play now, pay later.
How much longer will it take to realize this type of thinking is going to lead us down a path on which we don’t want to tread?
It appears the recent recession has done little to curb the rampant consumerism witnessed for the past number of years.
Recent reports peg Canada’s gross domestic product is based 58 per cent on consumer spending, which leads one to ask, how long will the powers-that-be allow this to continue. Comparatively, in the U.S., the figure is alarmingly higher at about 70 per cent.
This is a house of cards that will inevitably collapse.