Another force at work in many people’s lives goes hand-in-hand with consumerism. It’s called indebtedness, and unless its power to control you is completely understood, you will fall victim to credit card companies, lending institutions, banks, and other entities that wait with bated breath to put to work for them the compound interest they collect from you.
Unfortunately, most people don’t realize that when the initial loan amount is combined with double compound interest, they can end up paying three times the amount they actually borrow!
Credit card companies and other credit issuers are keenly aware of this fact. These entities know that double compound interest is the way to make money. That’s why they send out more than two billion offers for new credit cards each year, even to those with bad credit, no credit, or those who have declared bankruptcy.
After being seduced into spending through emotional media messages, those sick with the disease of consumerism seem driven to further compound the problem by adding an interest payment to their load. Is it any wonder that the majority of Americans cannot keep most of the money they make? Even though personal income has increased by 72 percent over the past decade, personal debt has increased by 123 percent! Consumer credit debt in the United States now stands at a whopping $1.6 trillion!
This type of debt enslavement is similar to taking one step forward and two steps back; it’s impossible to get ahead so long as you fail to understand the power that credit issuers can have over you if you let them. As John Cummuta of Illinois-based Financial Independence Network notes: “We are seduced into using credit by the illusion of prosperity and the short-term pleasure. We don’t think about the long-term pain.”7 The inability to fully and completely comprehend the enslaving power of compound interest, combined with the lack of a system for getting out from underneath this enslavement, is what keeps people chained to the credit-issuing institutions that control them. Are you being deceived by the false notion that debt is a normal and expected part of life and that there’s no other way to live other than as a slave to those with money to lend? If so, it’s time to free yourself!
