The Devil Made Me Debt It

Ok, I reuse Saran Wrap sometimes as well as aluminum foil. I also have a lot of second-hand furniture…well, come to think of it…it’s almost ALL second-hand stuff. Now before you trendy types start to feel sick, just remember this solemn proverb--money is the root of all evil, and debt is its devil (FYI--I just made up that last part).

I know, you may be rolling your eyes and thinking, ‘What’s all this devil nonsense and debt?”, especially since yesterday you took out a monster loan on your home and paid the minimum on a huge Visa balance. Heck, presidents and Congress have been borrowing trillions and trillions, and now Obama and crew are trying to tell us it’s ‘normal’ to borrow trillions more. What does a little personal borrowing behavior matter in the scheme of trillions in debt? Can’t a fellow have a little fun in life? Answer: think “serf.”

Serfs often had to render back-breaking service in order to fulfill debts they had accrued or been snookered into accepting as a good deal. But, you ask again, where does the Devil fit into this? Well, a serf is NOT a free person as long as he is in debt. If you are in debt, you are ruled over by someone else, who owns your life for his own benefit, usually for money or power or both. Debt, especially long-term debt, can easily put you in a living hell, hence debt is the devil of all money evils. Past generations knew this and tried hard to pass this invaluable avoidance-of-debt attitude onto future generations (except for the 60’s generation, which seems to worship debt). P.T. Barnum, the circus baron, said it well in his 1886 autobiography, The Art of Money Getting, when he said this about avoiding debt: “Young men starting in life should avoid running into debt. There is scarcely anything that drags a person down like debt. It is a slavish position to get in….Debt robs a man of his self-respect, and makes him almost despise himself. Grunting and groaning and working for what he has eaten up or worn out…he is called upon to pay up….”

Millions and millions of people in the past knew what we have forgotten, that our trillions and trillions in debt and the billions and billions in new spending that current politicians propose and foreign nations supply for their own ends will keep us “grunting and groaning and working” rather than free. The Nation’s debt has made us all into serfs. The Devil loves debt, and we’re in it up to our eyeballs thanks to His lackeys, the politicians. Yes, the Debt Devil is looming ever larger thanks to these irresponsible dolts, but we, free men and women everywhere, can fight back. I exhort you all, “Stay out of hell! Vote the debt-loving bastards out!”