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That's not the story today.

I do agree with you that people get in over their heads, they want what their parents waited a lifetime for when they just start out, but at the same time there is a lot of pressure on people to show they are successful instead of approval for waiting a little for things.

But asking people to wait to do basie things that will allow for happiness, like education and housing is asking an awful lot of them. Teaching them that they don't need to start off with two new BMW's and a Mc Mansion is something they do need to learn.

Your father is an exception to the rule. Most people have a hard time saving enough money to buy a house. The problem isn't financing a house, a car, a business, or a college education. It's using a credit card for everything, and having multiple credit cards. It's putting brand new furniture and appliances on a credit card instead of layaway. It's paying the monthly utility bills with a credit card. I'm happy for your family and you should be proud of them, but if it was so easy everyone would be doing it.

You have to spend money to make money. College is an investment. So is property. Yeah, the loan sucks. But alternative is stay in your moms basement, save up the money to pay for the house in fuli, or rent all of your life. The mortgage is clearly your best option. Even if your filthy rich, fortaxes purposes, a mortgage is a good thing.

When money is cheap, people spend. When credit is loose, people spend. When wages are high, people spend. This country rewards consumption instead of taxing it. Its very odd.

Going to college will (on average) pay off in the long run. State schools in cali run about 3k/semester, what State charges 30-50k/year? (ouch!)

If you look into the history of how GMAC was bom, you may see how alot of this kind of crap really got moving in the US.

Many are pretty ignorant of it. And even if you aren't... Is there a way to avoid it? Not really. Sometimes there's no choice but to play the gamę.

Before 1980 there was little difference in the wages of people with a college degree and skilled workers without one, so learning a trade on the job or working in a factory was enough to assure you could support a family. Then things changed for a variety of reasons and with wages at the top inereasing but falling for people without college degrees and if you did not earn morę than average wages it took two incomes to support a family. Young people became very competitive with everyone trying to earn morę than average so they borrowed trying to keep up. They had seen housing prices inerease due to inflation so they thought a house was an investment not a home so they did not look at the cost of the debt because it was going to make money.

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