DVD-Maxed Out

Maxed Out is a documentary primarily about credit card companies. It is scathing and eye opening. Made before the housing bubble collapsed, it begins with a housing boom real estate agent making deals. I remember those days. Nothing but optimism, and I had to laugh when the woman says it would all be fine as long interest rates didn't go up. I'd like to see where she is now.

Most of the blast is aimed at the credit card companies with some collateral shots hitting the government and consumers. Basically, it is all the fault of the banks and the finance companies. I find this a bit misleading and unfair.

The problem lies with consumption. People buy too much shit. They spend money they do not have. Since the bubble popped, consumers know better now. They are learning the lessons the Great Depression generation learned. You have to live below your means. Maxed Out spends hardly a minute of screen time pointing out the complicity that consumers have in their own destruction. You get a bit of Dave Ramsey on the screen, but his lessons are passed over in favor of bashing Congress for making it harder to declare bankruptcy.

The problem is debt, and debt comes from overconsumption. This entire nation has been in the fantasy world of plastic dreams, and now, those dreams have ended. You can't keep spending what you don't have. It is a lesson that the final player in this drama--the US government--has yet to learn.

Maxed Out ends with a typical bash on corporations and nothing on voluntary simplicity and wise personal finance. So, I will provide it for them. Cut up those cards. Work more. Earn more. Spend less. You will be happier and better off.

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