Disturbing

We were recently watching this week's episode of the show called Ebert & Roeper, formerly known as Siskel & Ebert, and currently really Roeper & Guest Reviewer, while Roger Ebert continues his long recovery from surgery.

Anyway, one of the movies reviewed was Maxed Out, a documentary in theatres right now. From what I could tell from their comments, this sounds like a 'cautionary tale about credit card debt,' meaning the film maker follows the travails of various Americans who've lived way beyond their means and in the process gotten into the downward spiral that you'd expect (borrowing more money to pay off their most immediate bills, having items repossessed, losing their homes, etc). Sounded like a mildly interesting film that I'd probably watch if I came across it as I was channel surfing.

What was disturbing was the reaction expressed by both reviewers (Richard Roeper and some movie maker whose name I forget but no one I'd ever heard of). They both raved about how much they'd learned from the documentary about how credit card debt really worked, to the point where they were considering paying off that balance they've been carrying on their own cards! Here were two well-educated men in their 40s or 50s, indicating that they hadn't understood - before watching a documentary - that the lending companies were making them pay several times over for all of the items they'd been charging, as they made their minimum payments each month! No wonder the card companies are making out like bandits, despite the losses they take on any disputed charges!

I remember Tammy telling us in high school about one of her teachers covering this material in class (she'd already heard it from us before then, of course). I wonder how common that experience is among school kids, and how much of it actually sinks in when they do hear it?

As an aside: If memory serves me, one of the two critics also said something like, "... these people are literally drowning in debt..." which reminds me of another pet peeve of mine: saying "literal" when you mean "figurative." People don't "literally drown in debt" unless, somehow, their debt has taken the form of liquid that's filling their lungs and killing them... whereas, it's easy to imagine them "figuratively drowning in debt."