Okay, I am on a roll trashing stupid commercials. I think maybe it is the result of too much time stuck in hotel rooms while on the road. This is the newest one that pisses me off: Chase Bank, those good ol’ credit card people! Here is the commercial: A couple decides they need a new TV. He rushes to the electronic store and surrounds himself with big screen plasma television sets. Background music: I Want It All And I Want It Now. THAT IS A CLUE to why I have a problem! He grabs his cell phone and dials a number to check his available credit to see how much he can charge. The voice over says something to the effect that you can find out how much of the good life you can buy with a simple phone call encouraging him to max out his card to indulge himself and his wife.Chase should be ashamed. Promoting that I Want It All And I Want It Now mentality and then telling you to max out your entire credit balance on a big screen television. People SHOULD be smart enough to see through this stuff, but sadly they aren’t. People will stupidly watch this and think, “How cool! I should totally go get whatever I want because I deserve it and I can just charge it.” Do you need it? Who cares? Can you afford it? Why does that matter? Is it a good idea? Beats me! I just want it!!!!!!!That is the problem with the government’s new economic stimulus package as well: stupidity. We (the US Government) are going to borrow money from China (because we spent all our money on a stupid war) to give people some money they didn’t earn so they can go buy stuff made in China that they don’t need. Looks to me the economy that gets the most stimulus is China’s. Add to that the issue that most people will look at the money they get as a downpayment and won’t spend just what they are given but will spend much more. Why are we rewarding bad behavior and irresponsibility in people? Do people really need help spending? Isn’t that the basic problem anyway? Why don’t we reward things like saving and investing and putting away for healthcare and for a college fund? That makes more sense to me. I just don’t believe in rewarding spending and encouraging more spending.If you get some of that free government money (I won’t) I hope you don’t do what the government wants you to do. They want you to help retailers and the economy by spending the money at the mall. I want you to pay off those high interest credit cards you have. If you don’t have any high interest credit card debt, then save or invest the money. Be smarter than our government.Until next time.EXTRA EXTRA!!!!!!!!! Just got an email from a Chase executive. I admire them for making contact with me. That alone deserves respect in my books. They acknowledged to me that perhaps their true message was not clear enough. That the goal was to teach people NOT to buy the biggest but to get what they could afford based on their available credit. Sorry I missed it – I think Queen screaming out I want it all and I want it NOW!!!!!!! while flashing a credit card drowned out their intent – at least to me. Again, I respect Chase for making contact with me. They were very respectful of me and what I do so I give them CREDIT for that. I appreciate any effort to teach people to spend responsibly. In their words, “We are trying to establish a responsibility message (see www.chaseclearandsimple.com, which offers people a number of tools to help them pay on time and know theimpact of only making minimum payments.” I applaud any effort to help people do just that! I have said for years that credit card companies are NOT at fault for people being in a credit card mess. People sign the contract and then don’t live according to the document they signed. I do not believe predatory lending runs rampant as many would lead you to believe. I believe big boys and girls sign papers and agree to payment plans and then don’t keep their word. Then when there are consequences, they cry ‘Foul!”This is full disclosure between me and you, them and me and now all of us. I think it is refreshing to see people COMMUNICATE their differences and talk things out openly.Larry
I’m with ya’ on this Larry! I think the Chase commercial contributes to a ‘herd mentality’ that thinks everyone is charging everything, maxing out their credit cards and getting what ever, when ever, and, for no reason other than ‘because’. You are right; It’s as though the credit card companies are on a mission to program the weak to borrow and spend themselves into financial oblivion.
What good is a plasma if you can’t afford to pay the power company who has shut your electricity off? A plasma by candle light just doesn’t have the same effect..
It seems to me that as long as their continues to be a back door, a way to escape the purgatory of financial irresponsibility, people will continue to abuse themselves, and the system that ‘saves them’. Until the consequences are severe enough, then this problem is going to continue to be something that we can right about for a long time to come.
You make a VERY good point about how China is the true benefactor of this stimulation package. I for one, am not spending a dime of it- gonna put it where money makes money!
Love reading your stuff! Thanks for sharing with us!
My favourite quote is by Will Smith (yeah, the Fresh Prince)
Too many people buy stuff they don’t want, with money they don’t have, to impress people they don’t like.
Thank you, Larry, for changing my perspective! I did not realize that it was a credit card commercial. I thought it was a commercial on a new type of tv and since I can’t afford one at this time, I ignored the whole sales pitch and just listened to Queen. I do want it all and I want it now, but I’m an adult and will not be getting it all or getting it now until I’m debt-free, have savings, and have ample discrectionary dollars to get it. My three kids are learning what it’s like to live on cash-on-hand within budget and we’re doing fine. I already know what card is getting any “stimulus” money I receive. I’m not going to be broke anymore, because I don’t wanna be!
I hate that commercial! Yet again, you have managed to say everything that I think. From wars and national debt, to religion, to common sense about marketing and consumer spending, you seem to be able to express what I am constantly yelling at CNN. It is almost frightening how many of us are on the same wavelength yet are told that we are in the minority. I just wish we could get some of the morons in charge to hear what you have to say!
At the risk of sounding stalkeresque…I love you, Larry! (it is Valentine’s day, after all)
Last night Chase CEO, Jamie Dimon, was on The Nightly Business report and stated that his bank was exploring new avenues to increase profitability. Et tu, Jamie? The whole concept of credit cards has, in my opinion, contributed to the decline of the work ethic in this country. Why work and save to buy what you want when Chase, Citi, Capial One and others will allow us to mortgage our futures for a HDTV? I would love to see you and Mr. Dimon debate the issue. Give ’em hell Larry!!
The gov’t hopes that everyone will get their check, run straight to Wal-Mart and buy an SUV-full of American-made goods. Nice fantasy. Me, I’ll be paying down the only credit card I have with a balance over $100 (not high interest, but it’s still debt). I have plenty of crap already… I’d much rather use the money to pay bills than buy more crap.
Amen, Larry! I know where our tax rebate is going. 1/2 to credit card & the other 1/2 to our emergency savings fund. We just started our savings not too long ago, so I want to build that up while I have the chance.
Hey, can I tell you a story just for kicks?
My co-worker (she’s about 33) has two kids, one is about 3 and the other is 12 or 13. The other day she showed me 2 different dollar amounts totalling about $5,000. This money is what is owed to her in child support. It is 2 different dads, and yes she had to have paternity tests for both!
Anyway, after she showed me this amount, her comment was something like, if they would pay this we could go on a nice little vacation!
HUH??? What about savings for your kids? College fund? Bills???
I know that they eat out all the time and spend stuff on unnecessary crap.
People never cease to amaze me……Her comment just made me want to punch a whole in the wall, or something.
Keep up the awesome work!
Elizabeth
“give people some money they didn’t earn”
I’m a taxpayer. Anytime i get a refund or any money from the Government, it isn’t “free government money”. It’s money I earned that they took out of my paycheck to begin with.
The government isn’t borrowing from China to give me a refund. I payed in involuntarily!
I agree with you, however if you actually watch that commercial, he’s sitting in the big chair with the sales guy showing him the massive wall-sized 183″ HD super set when he checks his balance using his cell phone, and yet he comes home with a very modest TV set that the wife tells him is perfect. Initially, I thought the same as you, but perhaps Chase should be admonished more for now emphasizing the fact that this guy got the TV he could afford rather than the 183″ HD super set. Yeah, for those who don’t watch the whole commercial, this is the wrong message. For those who do, perhaps it doesn’t.
As for the ‘economic stimulus package’ that our smoke-and-mirrors Federal government is so keen on, I couldn’t agree with you more. On the one hand, I wish I could just tell them to send my check to reduce the national debt. On the other, I’m actually looking forward to getting it so I can reduce my own debt. Every red cent of that check is going to pay off a credit card balance. Probably not what the government had in mind. Then again, they never pay attention to what we have in mind, so I figure I’ll just return the favor.
I wouldn’t be too fast to believe what Chase told you. Because people who have to check to see if they are near or over their limit shouldn’t be buying big fancy TVs and we all know it. Chase included.
Using Queen is ironic, considering Freddy’ Mercury’s sad fate. I wonder if some viewers of this commercial will get the accidental subtext that wanting it all now and being determined to have it all now can lead to bad outcomes?
Amen to that. I 100% agree with what you said.
As always you hit it right on. I just don’t like some of the responses that bash credit cards. They’re just tools to be used by people who know how. Is an open-end crescent wrench “bad” because someone uses it to bash in another person’s head. No! I have 5 credit cards, use them all and NEVER pay fees, because I pay them off each month. They keep me from standing in God-aweful ATM lines so I can pay for the right to use my own money. With a credit card, they float me a 21 day loan, interest free so I can keep my money in investments. Pretty cool deal if you know how to work it.
I hate that commercial too–it just perpetuates the worst habits. People go so quickly from “I want” to “I deserve” or even worse “It is owed to me.
And I am also upset by the commercials for the banks who say they “round up your purchase and then you get to SAVE all that glorious change” or the extra dollar added, or whatever. While they do include the real facts, most people are not paying enough attention to realize they are not being GIVEN that changes it is just their own money being moved around. I think it is very misleading the way they show it, and quite frankly I don’t want the bank messing around with my accounts so much. I am a big girl and I can save my own nickels and dimes.
You have to love socialism (sarcasm)! My dream day is having Larry and Dave Ramsey side by side in front of Congress speaking real solutions to our country addiction to debt. I can only dream! Until then go stimulate!
Thanks
Hey Larry,
Something else you should be watching and thinking about when stuck in hotels on the road is the financial service industry commercials. We can help achieve your goals. Save for retirement, save for the kids’ college fund, save for buying a $350K yacht and sail around the world. All while paying $3.00/gallon for gas, $300 a month grocery bill, $1200 mortgage, $400/month in car payments, health insurance, taxes, rip off prices on consumer goods that we need and that are not discretionary. All on an average U.S. salary of about $45,000.
Larry, I don’t owe anybody anything. We own our house outright, no credit bills, money in the bank, no car payments, and I have never lived better. I love watching your show because I can look at my wife and say “see?, that’s what I’m talking about”. I know it sounds smug, but it took years to get this way, and I like the feeling. No credit cards, just a check card, and we do it on a middle class budget of around 45K a year. How’d it happen? We saved, invested, bought houses wisely, and spent what we could AFFORD!
Thanks for showing people the light. BTW, I can’t wait to bank my tax rebate!
I agree with you on that one. The other commercial that bugs me is the VISA one where everything comes to a stop when a person tries to pay in cash. Then when they whip out their credit card to pay, everything starts moving again.
Larry,
You are dead on again! When I first saw that commercial I was shocked.
Just what we need, stupid people watching stupid commercials and running out to charge. Idiots. Life does NOT take Visa. Wake up people.
You are the rock god of the financial world.
Thanks
Actually, Brent, the rampant consumerism that causes a great deal of our addiction to credit card debt is a product of *capitalism.* There is nothing even remotely “socialist” about our conservative government, which itself is in debt to Communist countries because, as Larry rightly pointed out, of a senseless war.
As I said before, you are my hero…and I really resent the fact that our government is bailing out subprime lenders and the people who loved them! We have always lived below our means, have no debt, have raised 3 kids, have grandkids that we assist in school, etc. Thanks to our government’s complete idiocy, my stocks and investments are tanking. We are NOT wealthy, by the way, we have merely done our best to do things the right way…..we have ONE credit card. And we’re the ones being punished!
The same happens in Australia consumer debt is the highest ever been , with a large percentage of consumers have used all their capital gains in their property and spent it on consumables. We also have a government who will give $31 billion in tax cuts this year, that you can guarantee a large percentage will be blown on consumer debt. I am a good example, being near bankruptcy 14 years ago. I lost everything.
I no longer have a credit card and over the next 18 months I will have more money than I can spend. I learned from my mistakes.
We should all recognize that our life is our responsibility and not blame anyone for our problems. Quote: If it’s going to be it’s up to me.
2/3rds of our economy is based on consumer spending. If Americans stop spending, stores will close, if stores close, jobs are lost, if jobs are lost, less people will spend…that’s the collaps of our economy..and if our economy collapses, so does many of the world’s other economies, because they manufacture what we buy (or don’t buy). So, it’s a much better situation to have Americans buy buy buy (even what they can’t afford) and end up in dept over their heads, rather than have them save save save and have the economy collaps.
It is a case of how you consume. Andrew that is why US and other western countries are in such strive that it is in your not spending your own money. This is one of the things Larry points out.
Assets feed you liabilities eat you. Good debt, bad debt. The majority of people do not have the financial intelligence. But it is something that we can all learn.
The individual can make a difference. That is why the majority of wealth is controlled by a small percentage of people. They are the ones with the financial intelligence. This is what Larry teaches and so do a bunch of others.
If taken to the extreme Andrew, you are right. But that is a big IF. No economy is going to collapse (ours or any other country’s economy) if Americans spend less than they earn or save ten percent or invest a little. Stores won’t close and jobs won’t be lost. I would rather make a realistic observation than to speculate on what MIGHT happen if every situation is exaggerated to the ridiculous.
10% is a lot. In a trillion dollar economy, take away 10% for savings and you lose 100 Billion in sales. Of course stores will close with that kind of loss. Why do you think the government will hope you spend the measly $800? That’s not extreme, but it makes a huge impact. Just a few weeks ago, the value of the Asian and European stock markets fell up to 10% just on the RUMOR that Americans will spend less due to recession. It’s a delecate ballance. Nothing extreme is needed to cause major damage.
This weekend I went to my bank (which happens to be Chase) to deposit my state income tax return and pickup more deposit slips. While waiting to get everything taken care of, the teller asked me if I was interested in a Chase visa card and mentioned it would be a good safety net if I couldn’t access my checking account for some reason. That’s one dangerous safety net. I did my best not to laugh in the face of the teller.
BTW: Thanks Larry for the books. Each one I have read has either taught me something new or showed me a different way to look at things.
Yep…I hate that commercial too. Actually I didn’t know that was a Queen song until I read your blog, Larry. (Yeah, I’m “only” 30). There is one commercial that I think is great and is kinda the opposite version of the Chase one…….the Feed the Pig commercial. I’m sure everyone has seen that one by now. Now THAT one I love! They should air that one every 10 minutes if you ask me. I checked out the website from that commercial as well….feedthepig.org. Not too shabby. Since people have a tendency to just follow whatever the media tells them to……maybe more commercials like the feedthepig one would help change people’s mindsets since our lazy butts are always parked in front of the idiot box(my late grandma’s term for it) anyway.
This commercial ticked me off, too, but it was because of the choice of song. “I Want It All” is a take-off on the yuppy mantra (the story is Brian May’s wife used to say “I want it all and I want it now” frequently), but the verses he wrote for the song emphasize wanting dreams and adventure to come true — diametrically the opposite of the idea of wasting your life amassing useless crap by taking on debt, like getting a TV you can’t afford so you can sit on your butt in front of it and waste away your brain.
“I Want It All” was used in the past for various activist groups including anti-apartheid protesters in South Africa. Using it in this commercial reduces it back to being both a yuppy-mantra AND a jingle for sloth.
Saving 10% plus of your cashflow does not mean you stick under your bed. It means that you place it into an investment where you receive a return on your investment. If you place you money in a bank this is then lent out at a higher rate of return. Which could for capital works through to buying consumables.
Andrew: The markets did not fall because of the prospects of a US recession. It might have been the case years ago, quote ” when the US sneezes the world gets a cold”. The world is changing.
The market will always make corrections when it is over valued.
Dear Larry,
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I also found myself very irritated at this commercial and spoke about it with my wife. One of the highest ironies of that ad is that I interpreted that Queen song the same way as John Cantrell (#28) did. I was in college when it was released and often thought of it to boost my motivation in a competitive environment. I visualized a meaningful life and true achievement. Using this song to glorify indebting yourself for the privilege of watching an idiot box is the opposite of everything life ought to be about. “So much to do in one lifetime”… does that include killing your family’s future?
That commercial glorifies a guy in a negative feedback loop – a sign of how far our society has fallen. Once proud and reduced to such cheap shots – a comment that could apply to the guy, to Chase, to the US itself.
Best regards, Rob
My husband occasionally gets “envious” when we find out friends (esp his brother) have bought new cars or new giant TV’s go on expensive vacations etc, he seems to think that they make a lot more money than we do (which they really don’t, they “put it on the card” ) but I remind him that unlike them we save our money until we can afford to pay cash for the toys, our 30 year mortgage is a year from being paid off 17 years early, we own our own business (building/property is paid for as well/no debt) we drive older but well maintained cars, we bought a new motorcycle to vacation on with cash (got a huge discount because of that) we don’t watch TV enough to warrant a giant plasma TV. We are remodeling our house one room at a time to make it a dream home. We’ve put two kids through college so far (2 to go) and we will have a vacation home on a lake when we retire. All paid with cash. Credit cards are to reserve hotel rooms and the direst of emergencies (and then paid ASAP). Yet we don’t live like paupers we really don’t deny ourselves anything. We have a 1000 CD collection and I admit I have a Coach purse and way too many shoes and our (4) kids each have their own computer. My husband has several classic cars he’s restoring (a much more expensive hobby than it sounds). We vacation every year and we make way less than 6 figures a year. Yeah we want it all too, we just live within our means. Eventually we get it all.
Once we went out to dinner with some friends to a 4 star restaurant we decided to splurge on. We were floored when the bill came and it was time to divvy up the bill, the other couple actually took our cash and put the entire thing on their card, they were glad because now they had cash in their pockets to pay the babysitter, (seems just about their entire income went to paying for things bought with credit, yet they continue to add to that debt). We apologized for picking such an expensive restaurant, but they laughed and said they could afford it, they went there often. I wish I had your hutzpah Larry, I so wanted to say you obviously can’t if you have to put it on a credit card, as you would have, we just never went out to dinner with them again. As you’ve taught us, we try to avoid broke people. Even though we’ve always lived a balanced life we’ve learned a great deal from your books, keep up the great work.
Maggie – good for you! Thanks for sending me this. Excellent points for everyone.
Credit cards are not inherently bad. And I actually use one for dinner almost every time I go out – especially when it is a business expense. Credit card statements are great for keeping accounting straight for a tax person, bookkeeper and for the IRS. And some people like the airlines miles, though that is the last thing I need. But the key is to pay off your credit card when the bill comes in. If you can’t clear your credit card debt in 60 days, you have too much.
thanks again
L
I am a little confused here.
Larry Winget preaches personal responsibility. Anyone here read “SHUT UP, STOP WHINING & GET A LIFE” ?
Yet, the comments in this thread blame the credit card industry for causing people to use run up their cards.
Having read every one of Larry’s books, I personally subscribe to the “success is my own damn fault” idea. I am a little shocked by his position on the commercial. It seems to contradict his own words.
Quietly Patient – sorry you are confused – I am certainly not blaming the credit card company for anything other than promoting maxing out your card for frivolous purchases. I do preach personal responsibility, you are right about that. If you max ’em out, it’s your fault but credit card companies are irresponsible if they promote it.
thanks
Larry
I lost my job right on my birthday with a greeting card. I heard about people loosingt they jobs – but I didn’t think it’s going to happened with me. I start looking for a new job. I am a pretty good worker so I don’t think that going to be a big problem.