I know some of you are probably screaming, right this moment. What? Well let me tell you what he said the other day (July 24, 2007), that I am agreeing with. He was speaking about credit and kids. Take a look at the transcript below.
BECK: Well, if you`re a parent like me, I`ll bet you`ve been thinking to yourself, "Jeez, if there was just some way that my 7-year-old could have a credit card." Well, the gods have been listening!
The super geniuses over at Visa and MasterCard are now ready to roll out with their new debit cards that look and feel just like the real plastic that plunged Mom and Dad into crippling debt!
While some say this plan is a great way to educate kids about spending, to me it seems more like a slippery slope right to baby`s first bankruptcy.
Edmund Mierzwinski is a consumer advocate for the U.S. Public Interest Advocacy Group.
Ed, wow, let`s play devil`s advocate here for a second. They will tell you that this is a good way to keep tabs on what your kids are spending.
EDMUND MIERZWINSKI, U.S. PUBLIC INTEREST ADVOCACY GROUP: Absolutely wrong. It`s giving the banks the opportunity to put these cards in kids` hands, is essentially like the tobacco company selling candy cigarettes to youth and then getting them hooked early. And it`s just an unbelievable idea. They`re the fox guarding the chicken coop.
BECK: I`ve got to tell you, Ed. I`m so glad that you said that about the tobacco company. Because I think it`s American Express that is now the sponsor of Barbie`s cash register. AMX or Visa is a sponsor on the game of Life. This is Joe Camel.
MIERZWINSKI: It`s the commercialization of youth. The corporate culture has integrated itself into kids` playtime. All -- all products are wanting to get into your hand as early as possible. If they can hook you at birth, they`ve got you for life is really their strategy.
Can you imagine? The credit card companies are actually marketing debit cards that look and feel like real credit cards to 7-year-olds. This isn't a way to teach our kids about money. It certainly is not the ay to teach them to save. No instead, like he points out later in his comments and an interview, it will send kids plunging in debt sooner. Much the same as the college student, who files bankruptcy in his/her early 20's from all those credit card that s/he was urged to sign up for while in college.
Remember, when Dave Ramsey took on Barbie and Mastercard for sponsoring it? Now it seems American
And the debit card flows right into the credit card. Americans are carrying $800 billion of credit card debt. It`s an average of $10,000 per person who carries debt. Half of us use them as convenience cards. The other half carry that debt.
BECK: It is really truly remarkable to me, that 20 percent of all bankruptcies that happen in America are happening with college kids. Twenty percent! The average persons leaves college with three or four credit cards and $3,000 in debt on credit cards, and about $20,000 in debt -- I mean, how do you ever get out of that?
MIERZWINSKI: What`s really sad is that a lot of students, because of the crippling cost of college, are paying for college on their credit cards.
And the student loan companies, the credit card companies are all part of the banking system. They all want a piece of the action. And they don`t care if 20 percent of the people file for bankruptcy because they raise the rates on everyone else.
BECK: You know, it is amazing to me, you know, even though Robert F. Kennedy calls me a fascist and a corporate toady, a shill for corporations. This is the debt -- I`m a capitalist, man. I love making money. I love the ability to make money in this country and the freedom to do so.
But we have unbridled capitalism. And I don`t want government butting the bridle on it. I think we have a responsibility to bridle ourselves and say, no, I can market to kids, but I`m not going to.
MIERZWINSKI: That`s absolutely right. And by the way, there is a web site, TruthAboutCredit.org, where we talk about how to get out of credit card debt and how to avoid the card trap.
And credit card companies are also marketing actual credit cards on college campuses today, and they`re looking at giving away Frisbees and footballs and T-shirts to take applications.
BECK: Ed, thanks a lot.
MIERZWINSKI: Thank you.
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