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To: Joan Osland Graffius who wrote (45444)	4/8/2000 6:47:00 PM
From: Benkea	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 99985

"Brian, >>I'm amazed that people would set themselves up like this--but greed makes people do all sorts of things that are hard to imagine. I suspect we have a generation of people in this country that have learned that credit card debt is not a problem and there is not any serious consequences when they can not pay the interest on the debt." And then there are those depositing credit card cash advances, loan refis, and 125% home equity line proceeds into their brokerage account and then margining THAT!

To: Joan Osland Graffius who wrote (45444)	4/8/2000 9:24:00 PM
From: Brian P.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 99985

<<credit card debt is a social welfare system where the interest is so high that it covers the finance companies risk, and makes a nice profit>> That's an interesting way to put it. I've never seen it as social welfare--I've always seen it as a form of usury to sucker people of limited means into living beyond their means (the endless entreaties from credit card companies people get in the mail and the low barriers to getting credit) and then charge them 18%. No person of means in his right mind ever uses his credit card as anything but a convenience, paying in full every month. If it were really a welfare system, the kinds of things you could buy with a credit card would be severely restricted, the payment schedules would be much more structured and the interest rates would be much lower. I tend to see these credit card companies as preying on vulnerable people, i.e., simultaneously exploiting desire and ignorance about managing money.