Almost all Americans live in debt. Many Americans make purchases on credit, thereby driving themselves into debt.
Interlocutors:
Victoria Butenko (writer, rawfamily.com).
Artyom Voitenkov ( Educational TV).
Victoria Butenko: I noticed one difference in the behavior of Russian people and American citizens, that in Russia, it even happens, you hire a taxi, he drives, takes me in Lexus and says:
That's how hard it is to live, how badly, they have ruined
Everyone there is scolding someone and complaining. And the driver is well dressed, smokes expensive cigarettes.
I look and think:
Wow, why is she complaining? I will now pay him good money for taking me to the airport
In America, this is not accepted, they do not complain, despite the fact that they live poorer.
Besides, life in America is very expensive.
Artyom Voitenkov: You are now saying such things that people in America are poorer than in Russia.
Promotional video:
Victoria Butenko: Yes, many people live poorer. For example, I don't know many people who live richly. Many Americans either do not have a car, or they have a very old car. They all have cars on credit.
Artyom Voitenkov: In our country, on the contrary, Americans have several cars in their family, good cars: dad, mom, daughter - everyone has their own car. We have such an idea.
Victoria Butenko: Maybe in big cities? Although in big cities it is not profitable for people to have a car, because parking is very expensive. Let's say there is a parking lot in New York that costs fifty dollars for two hours. When I was giving a lecture in New York, people paid me twenty-five dollars for the lecture and fifty dollars for parking. In big cities, there are also not very many.
A lot of my friends just have a bicycle or an old car. Here's a new one … It happens that there is one or two cars in a family, but not every one. All these cars were bought on credit. I don't know anyone who would buy a car for cash, for cash. I just don't know such people. There is none of them.
Nobody buys for cash, except for Russian emigrants in America, well, some other emigrants, maybe. No one. Only everyone buys on credit. Moreover, if someone buys with cash, they put him on some kind of special account and monitor it, because it is very suspicious that maybe this person is laundering money. Where did he get so much cash? This does not happen, this cannot be. Everyone uses cards, bank accounts, checks. Has this person paid taxes on all this money he buys for?
Therefore, everyone lives on credit. Since they live on credit, imagine … For example, my son is the eldest, he receives seven thousand dollars. He works for a large corporation as a lead engineer.
Seven thousand dollars is good money, isn't it?
- “But three and a half thousand he pays off three big credit card loans. He has three and a half left.
- - He also pays for the house for one thousand six hundred. There are two left.
- - For kindergarten, for one and after another (for a good kindergarten), six hundred dollars each. This is already less than a thousand.
- - Plus payment of the car loan.
And that's all. You need to live literally eight hundred dollars a month: food, clothes, and all kinds of needs, something is broken, you need to buy something, a new washing machine or something. All. He is forced to profit every penny.
If suddenly there is an unforeseen expense, it is already running to me:
Mom, can I borrow from you?
This is the situation. Here's seven thousand dollars for you. And the fact that he pays interest on the loan (he does not pay off the loan, he only pays interest), he does not have enough money for the loan to decrease.
Artyom Voitenkov: Seven thousand dollars a month - and there is not enough money. This is strange to hear.
Victoria Butenko: Yes. And on eight hundred dollars a month to feed four people in America is very difficult. Because they don't go to the store with twenty dollars: you just can't buy anything there.
When I left, our cucumber cost two dollars, an organic apple costs two dollars, that is, the prices are very high.
Artyom Voitenkov: Stuck?
Victoria Butenko: Stuck.
Artyom Voitenkov: Is it environmentally friendly?
Viktoria Butenko: Yes, but you can, of course, live on pasta and soups, which many do, and health suffers from this.
Almost all Americans are in bondage
They never sew things up, do not repair, do not mend. They throw them away.
Due to the fact that America consumes using cheap labor from third world countries, things in America are very cheap. Most of the things are cheap, there are no such things of high quality. There are a lot of cheap low-quality ones that are disposable. There are a lot of disposable items.
I had to take out garbage to the American trash can, I saw that people throw away TVs, tape recorders. It stopped working, it costs nothing, no one will fix it, because it costs almost as much to fix it as it costs to buy a new one, so all this is thrown away. Washing machines and refrigerators - everything is thrown away and everything is bought new. And new ones can be bought on credit. Pay zero down and buy on credit, pay in six months. It's very tempting. People do that.
Artyom Voitenkov: Then they just pay off all these loans?
Victoria Butenko Then all these loans are added. If they cannot pay them, they simply hide or end up in some kind of debt obligation, where through the court they agree with them that they will pay partially or deduct from their salaries. Whoever can. I was also in such situations.
Artyom Voitenkov: That is, it turns out that all Americans live in debt?
Victoria Butenko: Yes, all Americans live in debt.