By John G. Merna, Esq.
Capital One: Funny Barbarians & Alex Baldwin Joke You Into Debt
Watching on my TV, here in Virginia Beach, the expensive Capital One commercials broadcast during the Olympics and other major TV events, I almost start to believe that having a Capital One credit card in my wallet means I have more money. I am richer because I have a credit card. I can take a vacation and pay in in cash. Isn’t that right? Capital One cash.
What? You mean they are giving me the money? Well, no, I have to pay it back. Oh, and there is interest. Oops. A lot of interest. So what is the pitch? How do I have more cash? How is my life better? How it is enhanced?
Well, it’s not, since taking on debt means leveraging my future income — that’s right, obligating money I haven’t even earned to pay for things I want now. Okay, that sounds familiar. Remember the company store? Industrial revolution. Buy on credit overpriced essentials and end up working the rest of your life for “the company.” Or indentured servitude. That’s right — work off your debt for years as financial slaves.
Yes, we live in a society that not only condones financial servitude put promotes it without apology or resistance from our lawmakers or leaders. When we begin to look to Alec Baldwin for advice on how to live our lives, even if only for financial advice, maybe we should ask ourselves if his brother, actor Stephen Baldwin, was following his financial advice when he was lead into bankruptcy in 2009. Did he have a Capital One credit card in his wallet?
I guess the truth is barbarians must be smarter than me. I just don’t get how a credit card makes me richer.
