How do you feel/view credit cards?

[FAST6191]

That just makes no sense. You always need a currency.

Food for food still works around the world, but commonly is its governmental currency.

If you call it "oppression," then you need to come up with an actual solution.

It is not that you need a currency it is that there always will be a currency*, just gets made using whatever is available to function as a stand in.

*even in the hypothetical post scarcity replicators powered by own personal black hole generators or Dyson sphere point you still have the what some would refer to as the Jimi Hendrix Bandana problem (someone comes from earth what was with such an item and now two people want it but otherwise want for nothing), the main solutions that don't involve money** being either teleport cloning (itself its own paradox) or mind control your desires such that you (or indeed one of the members of your society) don't want it (that or push them into VR).

**even at that point merely having mass to feed your black hole or use for your purposes becomes valuable in almost all scenarios so you can't get away from it.

 

[LainaGabranth]

That just makes no sense. You always need a currency.

Ohohoho, my sweet summer child. You've fallen for the currency meme.

 

[FAST6191]

Ohohoho, my sweet summer child. You've fallen for the currency meme.

Nobody shares truly, and even without that there will always be free riders.

The double coincidence of wants (we can barter but both will need to have what the other wants and in sufficient quantities, can happen but for it to happen for the trillions of interactions per day is going to fail in short order) is a real thing, one that can never be calculated around either (everybody has their own preferences, desires and assigned values, which can change by the second even if the goods were durable which is not the case). Plus there occasionally being items of individual and unique qualities that are not fungible (be it generally or to the specific person - Jimi Hendrix's headscarf being more interesting to many than your childhood favourite teddy that my dog can rip up just as well as any other stuffed animal which might be you and a few relatives that care)

An abstraction then gets called for to dodge the coincidence of wants, the disproportionate values (my few trees of apples are not worth your tower block, likewise my time as skilled person tends to be worth more than burger flipper), act as a time mitigation of sorts (give or take inflation, technical advancement and similar forces). This gets called money. Sometimes it is backed by governments (aka force), sometimes it is backed by private enterprise (also force but usually of a different character, whether better or worse is situational but most usually say worse for most purposes but not all, not to mention they enjoy working under governments for various efficiency purposes), sometimes it is backed by mutual agreement and a lot of mathematics (what the crypto currency set arguably are aiming for, though probably still force of the previous two flavours for the underlying contracts).

Short of sci fi levels of post scarcity or mind control there seems no way around it.

 

[bazamuffin]

Cracking little things if you use them sensibly. Most people who end up in shit with them abuse them, treat them like its free and you don't have to pay them back. Then shit spirals. I've been there, done that. Learned a hard lesson and now I never use more than £300 a month and it always gets paid off on payday.

 

[Marc_LFD]

Ohohoho, my sweet summer child. You've fallen for the currency meme.

You sound like the type who wants "free stuff" at the expense of others.

 

[LainaGabranth]

You sound like the type who wants "free stuff" at the expense of others.

If someone steals from you and you take it back, is that "free stuff at the expense of others?"

 

[Marc_LFD]

I view credit cards as a necessary evil. On one hand, they're extremely convenient and can be a lifesaver in an emergency. On the other hand, it's all too easy to get into debt with them. I try to use my credit card wisely by only charging what I know I can pay off at the end of the month. I also make sure to keep an eye on my account balance so that I don't get too close to my credit limit. Overall, I think credit cards are a helpful tool as long as you use them responsibly.

CC are good for cashback/points and to a certain degree, for emergency use, but using that for an emergency it could bury a person even deeper due to the charges they apply monthly.

As I've been listening to Dave Ramsey I've put an emergency fund list together and it helps in case of an emergency. There was a guy who called him and Dave roasted him rightly so.



He reminds me of a lot of people.