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We just have debit cards, and an Amex charge (not credit) card for big purchases.
It's good to be debt-free and feel virtuous about it, but I understand that this kind of "virtue" isn't always possible to people with limited income and a sudden huge financial problem -- medical bills, expensive repairs for a vitally-needed car, food and lodging after a job loss when there the money's run out and all that's left is that shiny plastic card...
How has society gotten so grim without us realizing it? In the old days, a desperate family would resort to a criminal loanshark, who charged exorbitantly high interest that could never be paid off, would eventually seize everything you owned, and could and would break the legs of those who couldn't pay?
Aside from the physical leg-breaking, how are things different now? Except that the loansharks are now publically-traded companies? And some of the biggest investment firms on Wall Street now invest in offshore Internet casinos (whose operation in this company is technically illegal) whose losers pay off with -- you guessed it -- credit cards.
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