It's Starting Again
by James Glaser
December 22, 2010

I haven't gotten one in quit a while, but I started getting credit card offers in the mail again this week. I received half a dozen, and I don't know why. Nothing has changed. I make my house payment every month on time, and the same is true for my truck payment. But, I have been doing that for years.

I bet there has been a good two year gap since I have had an offer for a new card. I don't need or want one, but it was kind of a surprise to see these new offers. I don't even read the offer. I just rip the envelope in half and put in in the burn box. I used to shred things like that, but shredders can get so frustrating when they jam up.

It must be an incredible temptation for people who are out of work or underemployed to get these offers. Usually they give you some sort of credit limit, and if you have no money before Christmas, and you have kids or some other loved one, you are probably going to take that card and go further into debt. I wouldn't blame you, and if you had to stiff the card company, that wouldn't bother me either.

I think America would be better off if all the card companies went belly up. Heck, it would be good if somebody took Washington's card away from Congress.

My parents had one card. That was a Sears card, and with that they could order flowers if some friend or relative died and lived out of town. They would pay that card right away, and that I think is the only thing they used it for. Otherwise it was cash for any purchase.

Credit card companies make billions of dollars every year, and that means that prices have to be higher so the retailer can cover his card costs. We pay interest, the retailer pays a fee, the rich get richer, and the rest of us get poorer.

It seems like I can use that last sentence at the end of most of my columns now.

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