Laying 'n wait

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In Those Days I guess credit was close to non existant, or at least very hard to get. I can't remember ever meeting anyone that had a credit card, but I suppose some people did have car or home loans. And there were some simple loans between friends and family know as IOU. Remember them?

I was taught to save money in order to aquire enough to buy that special thing. So, our school had a savings plan where I deposited about 35 cents a week from my allowance, and let it grow with the prevailing one percent interest. If I had extra money, I would put that into a piggy bank, but my Mom always bought me the one that you couldn't get the money out without breaking it.

My Mom did the same thing. She'd carefully study the catalogs for that special item she wanted, but could not yet afford. And then she would scamper down to Sears or Montgomery Wards to put it on Layaway. That's where the store would hold the item for a certain time as you would make interest free payments on it. The big day came when it was fully paid for (usually in a month or so) and you could then take it home.

Those Days soon faded with the advent of finance companies and credit cards. Soon, every store had a card of their own. And then, "Visa." A card that could be used at any store to buy anything within your limits. But the limits grew and grew making it easier to go deeper and deeper into debt. Soon layaways and savings account went extict and the whole world ran on IOU's.

Our country, our local and federal government, and We the People need to return to the days of layaways and piggy banks. We need to buy nothing until we can pay for it. We need to repay the loans we took as we agreed to do. We need savings accounts once again. But most importantly, we need to learn to live within our means.

Pennies from Heaven don't really exist.
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