Some personal responsibility.

I just read this article from the Columbus Dispatch relating to the items on the "top priority" list for Ohio House Democrats. You can read the article here.

I'm not going to comment on the proposed foreclosure moratorium because it's too closely related to my job. However, one of the "priorities" includes designing a bill that would ban marketing of credit cards at college campuses.

I'm going to be completely honest-I racked up a lot of credit card debt in college and law school. I'm pretty sure it took me 3 years before I paid off that Caribbean cruise I took senior year in 2003. Nevermind the trip I took to Greece in 2005. BUT, seriously? At what point do we stop blaming everyone else but ourselves for the financial state we are in.

I'm tired of hearing words like "bailout" and "stimulus". Yes, the economy is terrible. Yes, one contributor to this economy is predatory lending (which, by the way, there are already plenty of laws out there protecting consumers); but everytime you point your finger at a bank, you have three more pointing back at yourself. (That was a really bad joke.) The inability to pay back loans, credit card bills, etc. ultimately hurts retirement accounts, investment funds, and the entire economy.

One of the questions asked last night to Barack Obama during his press conference was whether banks receiving the new proposed bailout money would be required to use it to extend credit. That really got me fired up to the extent that there is a line of thinking that believes more credit is the answer to our economic situation.

How did we become so entitled? Whatever happened to taking responsibility? I'm not perfect. I have a massive amount of student debt. But, I also live in an apartment and my car is almost 6 years old (and missing 3 hubcaps!). Sure, I buy things I don't need, but I don't do it and then beg to be forgiven of my debt just because I can't (or won't) find other means to pay it off.

Take responsibility. Get a second job if you have to. Cut back on non-essentials. Stop paying for things with your credit card. Just stop asking for a hand-out with such a feeling of entitlement.