How many in the

audience have a
negative opinion of
debt?
How many in the
audience hold credit
cards, mortgages or car
loans?
Necessary but not Preferred
 Our Article and Its Significance

- How America Learned to Live and Thrive With Debt--- er, Credit
- Credit is apart of our daily lives
- Helps us with important life events: buying a house, buying a car and even everyday
expenses
- Altered opinions of credit
 Historically the Attitude Towards Debt

- Evil, Destructive, Burden

- Hinders growth and the future
- Avoid or you’re bound to it forever
Influential Historical Figures

● Condemned by thinkers and writers for millennia

● Examples include Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Dante Alighieri, Charles
Dickens, William Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky
Law and Debt

● Fallitus ergo frauditor or insolvent thus a swindler

● De debitore in partes secando, essentially let a creditor cut off parts of the
debtors body to make up the loss
● Common punishments for defaulting on debt would be public humiliation
 A Revolutionary Word

- Credit changed the way people borrowed and viewed their debt
- More positive and hopeful connotation
- Able to reach things that were unattainable before
- Increased the amount of debt individuals/households carried significantly
 Rise of Debt

- 1950’s: American households had debt of only .5 times their annual income
- Mid- 2000’s: American households had debt of more than 2 times their
annual income
- Today the American households has 52% more debt than they had decade
ago
- The idea of credit changed people’s views of debt, borrowing and spending. As you can see
from debt rise since the 1950’s the percentage of people having debt will continue to
increase, because most people are getting a clear understanding of how to use their credit.
 Impact of Credit
- Benefits
- Integral part of how our economy operates
- Viewed as necessary by many individuals
- Opens up a world of possibilities to access things that you can’t actually afford at that time
- Used with caution it can be a great tool, but it is often misused, leaving
many people in debt
 Impact of Credit

- Dangers
- Credit card debt can be deeply stressful leading to health problems
- The Associated Press and AOL Health 2008 poll: consumers in debt tend to have more
health problems than those not in debt
- Negative effect on economy:
- Consumers tend to rely on credit cards for necessities
- Consumers in debt may lose confidence in economy, spending less
- Use Credit Wisely!