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Anthony Bourdain on not having debt

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Re: Anthony Bourdain on not having debt

#41

Post by coconut_crab »

_vn5r wrote: post #31
coconut_crab wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in one of the most corrupted countries in the world. Yet our newborn immunisation rate is nearly 100%, with free healthcare and education for the people in poorer rural area and ethnics minorities. And my tax money contributed to that. I guess it's fine to hate your government, but a better solution is to change it than avoid paying tax. Because if people pay less tax then then the poor and vulnerable will be…

What country is that?

Vietnam, ranks 110 or so in transparency index

Re: Anthony Bourdain on not having debt

#42

Post by teslaberry »

so funny because when you are paying your taxes you are paying not only your own debt, but the debt of major banks, major government sponsored financial entities , insurance company bailouts, the debt of military contractors -------- you are paying for what was spent by the government on all of these guy upfront......and it's your debt............they call it taxes. so you are in big debt and you're paying it off!. it's just , you didn't spend most of it.

Re: Anthony Bourdain on not having debt

#43

Post by doctorcroc »

Bourdain is an OG. I've always admired his candor and ability to reflect on the things most important in life (and he knows it first-hand, having traveled nearly every where) -- time, lack of stress, and the enjoyment of good food with good people. Cheers!

Re: Anthony Bourdain on not having debt

#44

Post by bittercynic »

paulcole wrote: post #7
bootload wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I wish more people thought this way." It used to be common to view personal debt this way. I noticed a big change in the way debt was perceived by during the late '80s. Since then, debt is seen as normal. I'm pretty sure the finance industry has pushed 'Fractional reserve banking' to the limit to allow unchecked borrowing for land and housing. [0] Reference [0] "fractional-reserve banking permits the money supply to…

There's also the rebranding of the scary "second-mortgage" into the treat-yourself "home-equity-line-of-credit."

Those are two distinct products. I think they're both scary ways to treat-yourself.

Re: Anthony Bourdain on not having debt

#45

Post by appleiigs »

Debt conversations always have these weird grandpa rules of thumb and words of wisdom, as you can see in the other comments.

The proper use of debt is to match the debt with the asset. If you are buying a house, a 25-year mortgage matches the value of the house. If you are buying a car, a 5-year loan matches the value of the car. If you are buying a sandwich with a credit card, well... you should pay off your credit card at the end of the month because that sandwich is long gone.

Re: Anthony Bourdain on not having debt

#46

Post by usaphp »

jeffdavis wrote: post #38
nkozyra wrote: post #12

Debt is a manifestation of risk. As general financial advice, "don't take on debt" is akin to "don't take risks." It depends. On a lot of things.

To some, debt is a hit to one's freedom, dignity, and privacy. Most debt requires you to give a lot of personal information, tell a bank what you are buying, and then stick to a fairly arbitrary payment plan with various penlties for non-compliance. So it's perfectly sensible to minimize your debt for non-financial reasons.

buying a house, car, going to school, university, having a baby also requires you to give a lot of personal information, it does not mean its a reason not to use those things...

Re: Anthony Bourdain on not having debt

#47

Post by ianai »

There was a point where financing the government was a patriotic act. People would give other people War Bonds as presents. But now the patriotic thing is to trash talk which ever party is in the administration and wax poetic about governmental corruption. You can't have it both ways. You can't say no to financing your government and scorn corruption. Either you're okay paying for your government, you're okay with someone else paying for your government (to possibly include other governments!), or you're okay with your government paying for itself with printed money. (That last option, seignorage, leads to hyperinflation.)

Re: Anthony Bourdain on not having debt

#48

Post by wtvanhest »

wtvanhest wrote: post #11

Off topic, but why did the creator of this site make the top bar move when scrolling? That makes it 100% impossible to read for people who use the top of the screen as a line to read along. Also, is their a chrome extension to cancel that functionality?

My question is serious. I cannot track text very well and rely on the top of screens.

Re: Anthony Bourdain on not having debt

#49

Post by appleiigs »

nkozyra wrote: post #12

Debt is a manifestation of risk. As general financial advice, "don't take on debt" is akin to "don't take risks." It depends. On a lot of things.

Debt can reduce risk. Many corporations use leverage up a project, say 90%, so they only need to put in the 10%. If something goes wrong, they lose the 10% and they walk.

Re: Anthony Bourdain on not having debt

#50

Post by piker »

appleiigs wrote: post #45

Debt conversations always have these weird grandpa rules of thumb and words of wisdom, as you can see in the other comments. The proper use of debt is to match the debt with the asset. If you are buying a house, a 25-year mortgage matches the value of the house. If you are buying a car, a 5-year loan matches the value of the car. If you are buying a sandwich with a credit card, well... you should pay off your credit…

Were you deliberately using the "match the debt with the asset" rule of thumb as an example of your first sentence?
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