You shouldn’t feel bad about being in debt; however, you shouldn’t be comfortable living in debt either. Debt is a very complex topic with a straightforward premise—debt is about control.
I’m fresh off the book “Debt: The First 5,000 Years,” which changed how I view debt. There is nothing new under the sun, and our current debt situation has happened before.
I want to review how debt is always a part of our lives and how we can overcome it to find ourselves truly. Let’s begin.
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The origins of debt. Debt has always existed, even before physical currencies. People would lend three goats and ask for four goats in return.
There has always been some form of interest-bearing loans that would make one person the lender and another the borrower.
As bartering became more difficult, currencies formed to exchange money for items. However, societies needed central governments to protect the sanctity of these currencies.
Governments needed armies to protect these currencies, and generals needed money to feed and house soldiers. Governments then needed to generate tax revenue to pay for armies.
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Finally, governments installed markets to allow soldiers and families to spend their income on items while generating tax revenues for the governments.
Looking at debt today. Today, you can see the same trends. The number one expense of the US government is military spending.
We have shopping malls, online shops, cafes, gyms, ice cream parlors, doctors, hospitals, etc., generating tax revenues.
Everything costs money, and the middle class rapidly discovers that working hard for money is not paying off in the long run.
This has always been the case. People used to exchange their wives and children to pay down debts. These family members would become debt peons for other families.
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Eventually, there would be so many missing workers that leaders would need to call a “debt jubilee” to return debt peons to their families. This sounds kind of like student loan forgiveness, right?
Why are you in debt? It is human nature to want things now instead of later. When I was growing up, Kmart had a system called layaway.
You would take your toy or bike to their customer service department and create monthly installments to pay off the item.
Once you paid for the item entirely, they would give it to you; there was no interest. Today, we use credit cards to receive the toy now while paying interest later.
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We learned in the past that governments installed markets to ensure citizens spent money and generated tax revenues and “growth.”
Things can get out of hand quickly when you add hyper-capitalism, social media, influencers, lobbyists, and profit-driven businesses.
But, the average middle-class person doesn’t take this bird’s eye view—and that’s the main problem. Somewhere along these lines, we stopped learning on our own.
Debt is our birthright, but we can change our situation. Although being in debt is a given, we don’t need to live our lives under this horrible shadow.
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Being in debt is not fun, cool, or entertaining; it sucks. I lived under debt for 22 years and bought my freedom by learning and performing.
It’s actually easier than ever to free yourself from debt, but the steps require a mindset shift. Governments installed marketplaces, but the mindset of spending is much worse.
The first step to overcoming debt is understanding that spending keeps you broke. When we work hard for money, we feel we deserve to buy certain items or experiences.
Unfortunately, what you deserve is to be in debt. These feelings of entitlement, longing, greed, jealousy, wanting, and craving come from years of social manipulation and add to the fire to spend.
Reading about the origins of debt opened my eyes to how long these capitalist tactics have endured. So, overcoming the urge to spend your paycheck is challenging because people were overspending 3,000 years ago.
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Defeating your urge to get even into even more debt. Today, since more people are in debt than ever, it is encouraged to go further into debt.
You will hear things like, “You can’t take it with you” or “Why let your kids have fun with your money.” I will tell you that getting out of debt is one of the single-most important steps in your life.
My wife and I got out of debt in 2021. My life went from black and white to high-contrast bright colors. Why did I feel this way? Surely I was just doing my civic duty to repay my debts?
The reality is that we were never supposed to get out of debt. They can control you when you are in debt—plain and simple.
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You were born into debt, meant to stay in debt, and never to understand debt. The only way to fight back is to learn why debt is so destructive.
Capitalism is efficient at making people poor (and rich). Capitalism produces two types of people: those who move forward and those who stay still.
Those that move forward create interest-bearing loans, start businesses, leverage human capital to their benefit, and understand inflation is the cost of being alive. They constantly seek more resources to prepare for the unknown.
Those that stay stagnant will wait for governments to assist them, work for employers, get into more debt at higher interest rates, and complain about inflation. They wait for others to solve their problems.
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We all make a choice every single day at which type of capitalist person we become. The numbers are 10% of people moving forward and 90% staying in place.
Which type of person are you? The book “Mindset” calls these scenarios “growth” mindset and “fixed” mindset.
The simple truth is debt is our birthright, but staying in debt is a choice. Do you choose a nice car and an expensive vacation? Or to drive a Ford Focus and take a small staycation?
Conclusion. I wish everyone could free themselves from the bondage of debt. Alas, if everyone were free, the world would plunge into chaos.
How do you control the masses? Keep them in debt, install enforcers to ensure they pay their bills, and make sure they always want something new to buy.
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This has been the game for thousands of years; why should it change now? However, YOU have the tools to free YOURSELF.
It sounds good to fight for social reform and justice for all. But what would happen if the government wiped everyone’s car payments tomorrow?
How many people would buy new cars the next day? This choice defines human nature. So focus on freeing yourself first.
Become a free thinker. Learn how business works (by adding value), why people use interest-bearing loans, dividends, and how to leverage real estate.
They teach you that becoming a capitalist is bad, but take it with a grain of salt. Capitalists understand how to follow the money. There may be bad capitalists, but being a capitalist isn’t bad—it’s necessary. Good Luck!
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