Stephen Colbert’s The Word last night was an eye-opener. He was talking about a web site called Kwedit, that “teaches” kids how to, well, extend themselves credit for online purchases, which they can then pay off themselves or “Pass the Duck” and get family members to pay for them. You’ll have to watch it to get the full effect I got, which was … “this can’t possibly be real, he’s making a joke.” He’s not joking though. Kwedit is real, and I think it’s appalling.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| The Word – Kid-Owe | ||||
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And it’s not going to teach kids anything about using credit for purchases either. The last time I checked, I didn’t have any way to “Pass the Duck” and get someone else to pay my credit card bills for me, and I can’t just ignore my debt with the only repercussion being not being able to get and use more credit. If parents allow their kids to “learn” from Kwedit, there are going to be a lot of adults who have no clue how evil credit card debt can be … much like it is now (though it does seem many adults are finally waking up to the insanity that is credit card usage).
Anywhere there is sufficient money involved that organization and regulation can create or legitimize an industry, such will happen. Credit cards evolved with the suburbs and replaced personal accounts at small grocery stores and other Main Street shops. Later, with cash advances, they replaced the loan shark. People don’t view it as usury because it’s pretty much sold as a clean hands operation, much as state lotteries (to fund scholarships, ha ha) aren’t seen as replacing the old numbers racket. So-called financial innovation is always just an update to the old ‘fleece the flock’ scheme.
High school kids don’t need more education on drugs or where babies come from; what they need is a senior year dedicated to preparing them for making confidant, independent, sane financial decisions for the rest of their lives, heavy on the how-to aspects of recognizing and dealing with all the corrupt people and institutions that will be preying on them. That, of course, will never happen, since the primary purpose of school is to socialize gullibility and subservience.
One thing my father managed to instill in us as kids was that credit was for losers. I tell that to people even now and still get the must shame-faced and silent reaction.
a senior year dedicated to preparing them for making confidant, independent, sane financial decisions for the rest of their lives
Or even just some sort of financial education at all. I don’t know if they still do it, and I rather do doubt they do, but when I was in school, they actually taught us how to fill out tax forms, set up bank accounts, and how to make budgets. Not even in a special class. They worked it into all kinds of classes. Didn’t entirely keep me from screwing up a little when I got out on my own, but at least I knew I was screwing up and how to get back on track. It’s even worse for people getting out of high school now, what with credit cards and banks being how they are.
One thing my father managed to instill in us as kids was that credit was for losers.
That was pretty much my dad’s message too. If it weren’t for deciding that my dental work just had to be done NOW, we’d be debt free (house not included – getting priced out of the rental market, we decided that having a rent controlled place to live for the rest of our lives was a smart move, and it has been). Once that’s paid off, it’ll probably be another decade before some need comes up that requires getting on the credit hobby horse (and it will probably be some other health related issue, as it always seems to be).
I knew credit cards were a scam as soon as I got to college, and that situation has only gotten more scammy since then. I mean, there are people paying 30% interest?! That’s just insane. Total usury tied up in pretty legal wrapping paper to make it look like it’s a good thing. I remember when my “emergency” credit card sent me a letter saying my interest rate was going up to 20%, and there would be a yearly fee if I didn’t start using it more often … which lead directly to me canceling the thing and chopping it to bits.
Yeah, we send our kids out into the world woefully unprepared for life. Real life. How to pay bills and buy houses and have checking accounts without getting overdrawn. They may know a lot of (mostly) useless facts, but how to be an adult living in the 21st century? Not so much.