Lesson # 32 : Are we really as rich as we think ourselves to be?

Sitting in a world class mall in the capital of India and watching crowds of shoppers max out their credit cards it suddenly hit me. That do these people really have the money to buy the stuff that they are buying. With bills running upto ten grand and starting at anywhere between one to two grand it just seemed so unreal.

One after the other shoppers pulling out credit and debit cards and then using it to buy merchandise which clearly they couldn't afford. So why this great misconception? Well it all starts out with the credit card companies who troll all of us at some point in our lives.

With cash as an easy disposable it is bound to be misused. With great power comes great responsibility spiderman taught us that. Actually Jefferson did but nobody credits him with it. Coming back whenever a person buys a thing - let's say a sweatshirt. A Tommy Hilfiger sweatshirt for instance and he pays for it using his credit card. But he simply does not have the money to afford it. Assuming he has let's say three grand in his wallet. And he has let's say  a lakh to two lakhs in saving he still can't afford it. Here's why.

 Assuming this dude makes fifty thousand a month. Which today is the average package most undergraduate students get. And he pays say ten grand as rent. And another five on phone and travel expenses. Five on groceries and food. He has health insurance and other insurances which run upto another five to eight grand. And then he needs to pay for water and electricity which at 6 to 7 rupees a unit is pricey if anything et al. And then this dude also needs to pay tax. So he saves what probably five otherwise six in a good month. And mind you that's when he's having a good month. And then he decides one fine day to buy a sweatshirt for three grand. Yes there goes his saving down the drain.

But our good friend has yet to realize the power of the credit card. He has three grand in his pocket. But he refuses to use those. Instead he uses his credit card hoping that by the end of the month he will not only have those three grand but another three grand and the not so large interest that he needs to pay. Sadly neither happens and that's where our good friend starts defaulting. But he continues to swipe month after month year after year card after card. And then he defaults. And he defaults big.

Now imagine not just this dude but every single dude and dudette who lack the knowledge about their misdoings doing it one after the other generation after generation and you have a debt crises. One which will be fuelled by the masses and whose weight we as individuals whether culprits in it or not will have to bear.

So come one come all for our default warrants are being signed one after the other. For someone somewhere is swiping his card. Hell you could be the one doing it. Think twice that's all I can say!!

-Doodle