Speaking of Colbert, I finally got around to reading I Am America. Mostly funny, very racist, I love it.

I love pineapple...

"debt ass pineapple" produces in me some very conflicting, disturbing emotions.

Live within your means. Have 6 months of expenses in a liquid account. Don't sign anything you don't understand. If people did these things, the payday loan business would cease to exist.

@shadax: This is true. But being paid a wage that allows enough money left over to save would help with this.

@shadax: If people had money, they wouldn't need money. Agreed.

@shadax: If people did these things...
...the credit card business would cease to exist.
...the sub-prime mortgage business would never have existed.
...Wells Fargo would be remembered for their stagecoaches.
...there would be no stupid freecreditreportdotcom ads.
...the insurance industry would be a lot smaller.
...there would be a lot of unemployed lawyers.
...the Consumerist would be a much emptier place.
...Tax Cat would still be rolling his eyes.

@shadax: It's unrealistic based on current wage scales.

You are offering platitudes, the change has to come from the top, the cost of living compared to basic wages is out of balance.

This is another reason when someone says we live in a "free market" I laugh in their face. The market only belongs to the highest bidder. Lobbyists pay lots of money to get protective laws written for their industries so competition (and then consumers) have no voice really. No money, no attention to you from politicians.

The laws in Ohio were so manipulated was wormed around. I defended the existance of these places when the changes were an over-aggressive legislature was leading the charge, but after the issue was placed on the ballot and voted down overwhelmingly in November, I am so ready for these things to be brought down.

[www.nytimes.com]

@tmed: it's circular, if they pay us more, they will charge more for products ( cause you know they aren't giving us their money) so everything will get more expensive. We can't all live like Kings, once we all accept that, and prioritize that material possessions shouldn't determine our self worth, things will get better.

@savdavid: We're becoming a nation of oligarchs to a degree that would make even Russia proud.

@K-Bo: "We can't all live like Kings, once we all accept that, and prioritize that material possessions shouldn't determine our self worth, things will get better."

... and the modern "art" of advertising that slaps us in the face every day doesn't contradict that in any way whatsoever.

NASA announced Tuesday that it won't name a room in the international space station after the comedian. Instead, it has named a treadmill after him

NASA and Colbert compromised by naming a treadmill used for exercising in space after Colbert. NASA, itself an acronym (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), often names things so they spell out something fun. And that's what they did with the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT).

@Bearded Rapper: And So Can YOU! Bwahahahaha.

@Blueskylaw: You must be psychic - you answer questions before they are even asked :)

@K-Bo: Absolutely, material posessions should not determine self-worth.

But, you know, that's really easy to say when you can afford the things you need and can simply put off the things you want. Living within your means is easy when you have means.

There was a time in my life when the things I couldn't afford within my means included "medical attention," "groceries," and "shoes that will last in the snow, because mine have cracked open." And I was working my 40 hours a week job. And although I'm doing much, much better now (new job, new city) it would behoove us all to remember that "running out of money" does not equate to "lavish spending."

@Blueskylaw: ... thanks for that.

@Etoiles: it would behoove us all to remember that "running out of money" does not equate to "lavish spending."

Agreed, not always. But it ALMOST always equates to a series of poor decisions...such as stop seeking education, have a bunch of kids, "follow my passion and the dollars will follow" instead of getting a real job...etc...

@Blueskylaw: They named the room Tranquility instead.

@savdavid: Right on!! The "free market" is a myth. See: government subsidies, government bailouts, etc. The world most definitely is not flat, it's a steep incline.

@Etoiles: Yeah, I'll make sure to give shadax's advice to my single-mother friend whose ex-husband can't be arsed to pay child support who likes to FEED HER CHILDREN on a regular basis. All her problems would be solved if she'd just save up six months of living expenses! I'm sure her kids won't mind GOING WITHOUT FOOD to get there.

@Eyebrows McGee (on Twitter: LPetelle): One of my friends related the story of a neighbor of hers whose husband abruptly left the family, and left them $10,00 in debt because he stopped paying the bills months before he left, and told her he had paid them. It's a sad, sad situation.

@pecan 3.14159265: $10,000.

@tmed: Edit Button Needed!

@Entomologista: So would having a skill that commanded such a wage.

@pecan 3.14159265:

Yeah, that made no sense to me. Tranquility came in 8th in the voting. Why vote if you're going to suggest a bunch of names, then choose that one that comes in 8th?

I was going to yell "cop out!" when they decided to name a treadmill for him instead of a node, but they were actually pretty clever about it (love the sticker).

@1234tu: You can tell who here have not really had true money problems. I once ran through some difficult times and I have ALWAYS spent within "my means". I had a problem when I was injured off work so no workers comp. After almost a year of paying my insurance totally (since the employer carried coverage only has to be paid by them for 1 year) I was broke. No money for insurance, rent, food, all the musts, I had to seek assistance from the federal programs.

Please do not speak to subjects you have no business speaking about. You want to blame every individual that is going through "tough times" as not planning ahead but I can tell you even the best laid plans sometimes aren't enough! Please use your wisdom to tell me what I could have done differently so I can do it right this time! Your righteous indignation makes me sick. I have made no "bad" decisions, I finished college had a good job had savings, paid my bills, please sir tell me what more should I have been doing???

@PencilSharp: credit reports would still exist, and would still need to exist. Some people would still be greedy enough to commit identity theft. Not that the credit bureaus can/will do much to help victims, but at least you can pretend you're safe...

@Yossarian: There are plenty of extremely skilled people who can't find a job in their field that pays well enough. It's not like engineers automatically start making $200k. There are a great deal of people who just aren't making the amount of money their skills (at some point) were attributed to. That's why it's foolish to consider any career recession-proof. Medicine is certainly not recession-proof, and neither is engineering. Just because you have skills doesn't mean that at some point, you won't end up working for a wage below your skill level.

@chinadoll724: They shouldn't have opened it up to the public if they weren't even going to listen.

@Blueskylaw:

I will giggle ALL day at that one!!

@pecan 3.14159265: I was desperately hoping for Serenity.

@Erwos: Me too! I was annoyed when they didn't pick Serenity, because it was clearly the winner (sans Colbert).

Wow, sarcasm.

What a concept...

You mean a government-run monopoly decided not to listen to the will of the people? I am so shocked! Good thing they promise not to do the same thing with GM!.....

@pecan 3.14159265: @pecan 3.14159265: Unless I am reading Entomologista incorrectly, he's not talking about unemployment or people looking for jobs, he's talking about something like the "living wage" foolishness.

Paying people according to what they "need" rather than according to the employer believes they contribute isn't a good idea.

That's the idea to which I was responding, not that honest, hard-working people are un- or under-employed aren't sometimes forced into difficult economic times despite the execution of their best laid plans.

@Yossarian: I think at some point, the wage is just too low to save. Housing prices can only go down so much - the savings you get paying $200 in rent for one small room get gobbled up by the fact that you have no kitchen and have to eat out for dinner, or eat microwavable things.

@Yossarian: It makes sense to the degree that businesses are supported by a middle class that can afford their products. Since wages haven't really gone up in a while, the only reason the economy expanded and companies could sell many products was easy credit.

If people lived without debt the last 15 years, store shelves, car lots and even higher education would look a lot different.

Yet again, judging payday loans by their annual rate is silly. These are usually due in only a matter of weeks, not months and certainly not up to a year.

We shouldn't advocate mucking up the argument over payday loans with this metric, as there are other good reasons to do away with them. The same goes for going off on it being a $50 billion industry (so what!).

But this part is precious:

"Others have argued that without these loans, people would bounce checks, incurring average costs of $27 or more per overdraft. The overdraft fees that some banks charge are scandalous and deserve more congressional scrutiny."

A $200 2-week payday loan, which is quite a hefty amount for such a short time, will net (at 391% APR, 15% interest) $30 for the lender if paid on time, or only a little over the average cost of NSF fees. So yes, the "oh they'll bounce checks without these loans" argument is just pathetic.

@pecan 3.14159265: Then get a roommate. Or 4. Not everyone is ever going to have a ton of disposable income, partly because not everyone has a ton of a value to add to a company. Putting lettuce on a hamburger or sweeping a floor, honest work though they are, don't take a lot of skill that can't be replicated by almost everyone with little to no training at all. In your view, what should the standard of living be for someone with only those skills?

There's always going to be a bottom quartile, or whatever, of wage earners no matter how high the standard of living of that segment and they are probably going to always be described as poor no matter what resources they have at their disposal.

@KyleOrton: The degree to which a middle class can realistically be propped up by artificially high wages is pretty much zero. How do you propose to prop up wages without inflation due to increased consumption eating up those incremental wages? I mean, if propping up wages is a way out, why not just make the minimum wage $1000 an hour so we can all be rich?

@chrisjames: Your example would cost the consumer $244 to borrow $200 if paid back in full on the first due date. While that's just a bit over the usual NSF fee, you haven't taken into account that a $200 deposit into a bank account can stop SEVERAL overdrafts. I'll pay $44 to stop two, three, or more overdrafts. I'm not sure you took multiple overdrafts into consideration when making your comment.

@chrisjames: Before you label that argument as pathetic, you might want to examine what happens when that $200 2-week payday loan negates SEVERAL NSF fees (instead of just one as you calculated). Do THAT math. It wouldn't be pathetic at all to pay $44 instead of $27x2, $27x3, and on and on.

@chrisjames: But the truth doesn't make me angry, illogical, and full of hate for corporate America. Feed me. 300%!!!!! YA!!!

@1234tu: "Agreed, not always. But it ALMOST always equates to a series of poor decisions...such as stop seeking education, have a bunch of kids, "follow my passion and the dollars will follow" instead of getting a real job...etc..."

Hardly. Yes, there are those cases where people do just drop out and expect things to come to them, but there are a lot of people who simply can't catch a break. There are also a lot of people who really don't have the ability to really pursue education, people for whom college isn't really an option. We have a lot of special education kids who, due to state standards and testing, will not even be eligible for high school diplomas. These are kids who will be funneled toward vocational education of some sort, but these will not be high paying jobs.

If these kids don't have the life skills coming out of school to really comprehend what lies ahead (and most of them don't), how can we expect them to succeed with budgeting for themselves, and for their families which they are likely to start eventually, on low budgets; let alone how can we expect them to pursue more education?

@chrisjames: I know people who have used Payday loans before and a good portion of them end up paying off the loan and reinstating it because they cannot afford that big a hit to their wallet.

@Yossarian: I'm not disagreeing with you. We can't artificially prop the middle class up with wages OR lending. The country is about to change as a lot, a lot of people realize they're not as wealthy as they thought they were. And it won't change anytime soon.

Just remember that the payday companies are mostly owned by those banks that we bailed out. One could call them the mafia branches. Who said that the banks weren't willing to loan money, why at 350% they will lend to anyone.

@chrisjames: Yes judging a loan by a standardized rate used by the whole industry is silly. These places either need to be shut down or have their rates capped at 30ish% apr. The problem will such high rates is that alot of their customers can't payoff the loan and take out a new one every 2 weeks; they roll the fees and principal into the new loan.