Everyone has heard this sentiment at some point in their lives, often to justify the "service economy." Great goal for an individual, but how does that make sense??
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"Service economy" jobs feed off people who produce products for a living, aka creating value. Without manufacturing, what producers do we have? The tech industry? The whole of America cannot subsist off the tech industry. So what's left? Construction? Farming? America is supposed to survive off providing healthcare and financial services to farmers and Google employees?
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To work in tech, or in most service sectors like finance, law, medicine, data analytics, etc, let's say your IQ needs to be about 1 standard deviation above the mean. That leaves about 80% of Americans in the cold. Overestimation? Maybe, but probably not far from the truth.
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So how does the service economy achieve a 5% unemployment rate? Top service job sectors are education/healthcare with 26M employees in schools, hospitals, and social services, and 23M employees in "government." LOLLLLL
So you have:
- government-funded (or directly government-run) schools, universities, and hospitals employing the biggest chunk of people
- then another 23M people explicitly paid by the government
- then millions of women in the private business sector who are essentially subsidized by government-mandated email jobs
- then the transportation and UberEats sector that feeds off these people's Amazon deliveries and takeout orders
- then the legions of people on disability or food stamps or not making enough to actually pay taxes
- then the remainder of the population that actually creates some kind of value (excluding service jobs like legal, financial, business services, etc)
Our country runs off unlimited debt and pixie dust.
No, a credit score is a measure of how much money (((they))) can make off you. As in, the parasites are ranking you as a host. Look at who uses it, who contributes to it, and how to get a higher score.
I pay off my credit cards immediately (meaning they don't make interest), and have had very few loans, each with very low rates (started them when rates were low). They barely make money off of me, yet my credit score is well above average.
Payment networks like Visa are still taking 3% transaction fees off of credit card transactions. The merchant doesn't have to tell you about it but it's still there. Some may offer cash discounts or add credit card surcharges. Interest isn't the only way the payment network makes money.
Credit cards are a way to safeguard checking account assets by not having paper checks floating around with account numbers, or not having to carry large amounts of cash. It is a practical way to protect debit cards from card skimming. There is also transaction protection from fraud or non-delivery of goods or services. Some of the network payment fees may even out with 2% cash back or other intangible benefits such as miles so that it's more enticing to use credit card.
You may be paying off balances monthly without paying interest. It isn't free to use a credit card, and there is more net benefit to the payment network than for you or a merchant. There are trade-offs to consider using a credit card, however.
Notice I said "can make", and not "are making".
So, they didn't lose any money. They got the principal back, and then some.
Basically, you are showing that you have plenty of
bloodmoney that they can suck out of you, if you gave them the opportunity.