I have been making a conscious effort not to use my credit cards. Well, I only have one and back in November I cut it up (it is due to expire in February, so as an experiment, it wasn't so bad). I have a gas card and a non-debit ATM card (I can only use it to get cash). Since the beginning of the experiment I have found that:
1) You can buy almost anything with a credit card to the point where some merchants have cash only signs out.
2) there are some things that you can only buy with credit. Now fortunately, the things that can only be bought with credit can also be bought with an ATM card, but I have found that there are people who don't even carry those.
What does this say about our society? Certainly it isn't news that you cannot rent a car without a credit card - that has been in place for years. The car companies claim it is to protect themselves. I am not so sure. The other side of the coin is the increasing debt we are plunging ourselves into. Most of us cannot afford to have the credit card companies tell us to pay up - now, let alone expect that we will get rid of them in our lifetime.
Is it a fair trade off then to have what we want now, regardless of the cost and bear the weight of the Sword of Damocles hanging over our head and that of our children? The Federal government thinks so. I am not convinced. I may cut up my new card when it comes in. More likely, I will stick it in a drawer and try and forget about it.
6:12:04 PM 
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