I choose freedom

When you look at long term credit data, you begin to understand the revolution in personal finance that took place in the last thirty or so years.

Back in the early 1960s, private credit was less than 16 percent of GDP. By 2007, it was over 170 percent. It is an historically unprecedented increase in personal indebtedness. GDP measurs our national income, which ultimately determines our capacity to repay debt. So this data tells us that our debt burden, which expressed in terms of income, has increased ten-fold.

To put it mildly, the data sems to suggest that we have become a nation of debt serfs. The vast majority of households, it would appear, are totally beholden to the bankers.

But not me. I proudly declare that I have no debts. The relevant number is zero. You won't find me in that chart. I have no credit card debt and no mortgage. Overdrafts are banned in the Cook household. Everything we have belongs to us. We deal in cash, and not credit.

I don't know about the rest of you but I choose freedom over serfdom.