Just. Stop. Paying.

I probably should add “the miserable cock-gobbling, scum-sucking, pieces of shit” to the title, but that seems a bit long and a tad gratuitous.  But there it is.  It is the only solution.

I live in the United State and the basic economic problem is represented by this graph which is the ratio of credit market debt to GDP since around 1920.  Notice the spike right before the Great Depression in the 30s?  Yeah, me too.

Notice another spike starting around 1980 that peaks around 2008?  Yeah, me too.

I’ll write more about this over time – why private debt is utterly debilitating to an economy – but what matters is that it needs to come down. How does that happen. Well, it happens through payoff (yeah right), bankruptcy (maybe), or renegotiation and payment of a lesser amount.

If you can payoff your debt, more power to you. If you make a low enough salary to meaningfully declare bankruptcy, sweet! But for the vast majority out there, the options are limited. There is, for example, no bankruptcy option for student loans. And the mortgage payments on a house worth half or less what you paid for it coupled with the credit cards you’ve been using to pay for child care, food, and health insurance, are debilitating – especially since wages are going down.

So stop. There’s no shame in it. It’s the right thing to do both for you, your family, and for the country. Just. Fucking. Stop. Do not send the bloodsucking vultures, the vampire squid of our economy one more fucking dime. They can’t hire enough debt collectors to come after us if we won’t play ball. And there aren’t enough courtrooms in the country to handle us. If we just stop paying, they will have to deal with us. Your credit will take a hit, but at least you’ll be able to save some money if you aren’t sending these vultures a payment every month.

The banks know this. In fact, they don’t even try to hide the fact that they know we’re being ripped the fuck off through the exercise of our own free will. Don’t believe me? That was the biggest concern of all of those mortgage lenders, here’s one comment:

One of the greatest fears for lenders (and investors in mortgage backed securities) is that it will become socially acceptable for upside down middle class Americans to walk away from their homes.

At least people are beginning to realize the wisdom of walking away from the four-walled debt trap that used to be called a home.  But all of this debt  needs to be wiped out, or more accurately written down and paid back at pennies on the dollar. Make the skimmers and bastards come after you.  Make them.

They can’t get us all.