
Tom and Kate’s Personal Finance Diary Is a Sad Indictment of Capitalism - smacktoward
https://slate.com/business/2018/11/tom-kate-personal-finance-diary-capitalism-credit-sad.html
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dokein
After reading the original article linked within the slate re-reporting
bullshit:

It’s a sad indictment of Tom and Kate, not capitalism. They both make decent
money — significantly more than their parents. They both have graduate level
education.

I get that humans do not make perfect decisions and there are systems controls
that are needed to counteract predatory behavior. But this particular story is
Tom and Kate’s failure alone. The slate title is the same “we are all victims”
bullshit that seems particularly present in the media these days.

~~~
hsitz
Sorry, no, I don't think so. Not when you place people within an economic
system/environment that's designed to take advantage of their natural
weaknesses. Yes, if Tom and Kate had been smarter and/or more disciplined they
would have been okay. But it's not reasonable to expect the majority of people
to be able to outsmart the system, when the system is designed to outsmart the
average person.

This is more or less the topic of Robert Shiller's excellent "Phishing for
Phools": [https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2015/09/17/you-
have...](https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2015/09/17/you-have-been-
warned) These sorts of deceptions are endemic to a capitalist system, need to
be curbed somehow or things will go off the rails, as they pretty much have in
U.S. economy.

~~~
skookum
> ...it's not reasonable to expect the majority of people to be able to
> outsmart the system...

"Our kids are used to sushi."

Their problem isn't being outsmarted by the system. Their problem is feeling
entitled to a lifestyle they can't afford.

~~~
pan69
And where do you think this entitlement comes from? Not from a system that is
designed to make them feel they have these kinds of entitlements?

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hluska
The original article is located here:

[https://www.wealthsimple.com/en-us/magazine/money-diary-
coup...](https://www.wealthsimple.com/en-us/magazine/money-diary-couple-debt-
us)

It is an interesting read, though honestly, I think it's fiction.

~~~
pmorici
These fools are making a combined income of ~$175,000 per year and can’t
manage to pay their modest mortgage or stay out of credit card debt.
Capitalism isn’t their problem.

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dmitrybrant
It's a gross, misguided oversimplification to indict "capitalism" in the fate
of these (possibly real) people. Does personal responsibility no longer enter
the lexicon of our progressive culture? No, it must be someone else's fault.
No, scratch that, it must be the system's fault!

Of course, at its worst, "capitalism" can become exploitative of people's
desires, obsessions, and addictions. But with just a little cognitive effort,
it's easy enough to see through these tactics. I mean, "Tom" has a graduate
degree in _advertising_ , ffs.

~~~
WkndTriathlete
It's clearly difficult for _some_ people.

After all, there's a reason we have help lines and support groups for gambling
addiction, drug addiction, alcohol addiction, etc. Hell, a lot of people
cannot exercise the responsibility it takes to eat right and exercise
regularly. Should it be a surprise that such a thing like "consumption
addiction" might be real? Do we really want an end-stage capitalist system
that enables people to be perpetual interest-servicing wage-slaves because
they cannot - for whatever reason - exercise financial discipline?

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trav4225
Bad behavior X "is a sad indictment of" freedom.

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RickJWagner
Capitalism works just fine.

You can't stop everybody from self-harm, no matter what you do. This couple
has already been given extra chances-- we cannot save them from themselves.

------
joveian
The posted article is not just blogspam and has a reasonable argument: the
story touches on multiple non-obvious issues that could be real issues for
many people. The author gives an example that even having written quite a bit
about student loans they were not aware that indefinite forbearance was
allowed.

