Posted on by Californiacontrarian

That Is Insane !

Last week I read two different pieces in two different newspapers that emphasized the difference between what is happening in the liberal world of California and what is happening in the real world.

The first article was by Tricia Gallagher-Guertsen (TGG), who is the co-chair of the Ethnic Studies Advisory Committee of San Diego Unified School District. (In the guise of being fair and equal, I must again admit my visceral distrust of anything written by someone with a hyphenated last name!) TGG was extolling the praises of Assembly Bill 331, which would require a semester course in ethnic studies for high school graduation. As TGG states, “These ethnic studies courses instead of focusing on the contributions, history and perspective of European Americans, would present content of understudied populations, like women, blacks, and Pacific Islanders, for example.” AB 331 . . . that is insane!

TGG feels that this bill will increase “cumbia” amongst the many, many ethnic groups in this state. Those of us who happen to live in California realize that this type of liberal drivel is just the sort of thing that will sail through the California Legislature in Sacramento, and will be signed by our uber liberal governor.

The second article was about how “the American middle class is falling deeper into debt to maintain a middle-class lifestyle.” There was a lot of numbers and figures comparing consumer debt adjusted for inflation over the last two decades. “Consumer debt, not counting mortgages has climbed to $4 trillion – higher than it has ever been adjusting for inflation. Student debt totaled about $1.5 trillion. Auto debt is up nearly 40% adjusting for inflation in the last decade to $1.3 trillion. The average loan for new cars is up 11% in a decade to $32,187.” That is insane! $32,000+ for the average car loan! I have never paid close to this for a car. Some 85% of new cars were financed in the first quarter of this year. 32% of new car loans are for six or seven years. A decade ago only 12% were for that long. And so a third of new car buyers roll debt from their old loans into the new one. The average amount that is rolled over is $5000. That is insane!
In the body of the article were stories about three different families who were having difficulty making it, despite earning good salaries, because of all that they owed. One of the husbands, aged 33, had to cash out $8000 from his pension to pay off credit card debt. Credit card debt of $8000! That is insane!

But not as insane as a second couple who in addition to their $51,000 in student loan debt, have $18000 in auto loans, and $50,000 spread across eight credit cards. This is insane, and to make matters worse both the husband and the wife are college graduates, and have about double the median income. Still they cannot come close to making ends meet. Did they ever learn about budgeting? Do they think that using eight credit cards is like using free money?

Another couple vowed to stop using their credit cards, but broke that promise when they were invited to an out of town wedding. Airfare, hotel accommodations, and a rental car meant that they started that uphill trek of trying to pay off their maxed out credit card all over again! (What about, “Sorry, we cannot come to your wedding as we cannot afford it. Good luck to you.”) That is insane!

Who taught them about the wisdom of not getting into debt? Nobody did!! It would seem to me that “common sense personal financial management” should be a semester high school class, a class required for graduation. Learning some basic financial planning strategy will be much more useful than ten classes in ethnic studies! If individuals wish to learn more about how important their ancestors were, I think that is very commendable . . . but do it after school or as an elective. That, my friends, would be the sane way to re-write and then pass A.B. 331!

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