 What Manning is saying |
| Review Date: August 9, 2004 |
| Reviewer: C. Brown, Evanston, IL United States |
I think reviewers are overlooking the central theme of Manning's book, made up of two observations by which he reaches his conclusion.
First, he is telling us that our society has changed from the time when a person was known for his/her personal character, and Puritanical thrift was the rule to guide all. In times past, most people couldn't begin to afford to create an image or build their persona from non-essential purchases. Only minimal credit was available to Joe Average and that usually from a local merchant who sold essentials. As my dad (born 1898) used to tell me: never use credit except for a house and a car. He exploded with rage when credit cards began arriving unsolicited in the mail as he saw it as an extreme danger to society.
Now, people are known for their lifestyle. They present themselves as an image built through their possessions. Revolving credit has been slipped into the toolbox of the average citizen through the careful marketing of the credit providers as an aid, an essential one, for the non-wealthy to participate in the culture-wide activity of individual identity creation and the maintenance of "success".
Conclusion from the above: to participate in American culture, literally to be somebody (sad to say), you have to put up an image based on possessions. If you have money you do it effortlessly. If you don't have money, you do it with revolving credit. In other words, for those without money, credit is the foundation for being socialized into popular culture, in addition to being a lifesaver for status when a job is lost, or becomes part-time.
It is not simply a matter of the individual being foolish to choose to get into debt, as it was back in the old days of "a penny saved is a penny earned." Manning is NOT dismissing individual responsibility to keep one's head above water financially. He IS saying that self-creation through possessions is a social demand that has been fed heartily by the self-interested financial services companies, who are eager to see the "individual responsibility" model kept in the spotlight in order to keep attention away from what those companies are really doing: subsidizing one group of people by preying on the habits of another group. This process involves two groups who, in the eyes of a creditor, should not be differentiated. This is the outrage that Manning identifies.
To be specific, those who use credit for convenience get interest-free short term credit at the expense of those who pay dearly for the use of money from the same provider. Person A pays off his/her $2000 credit card balance in one month and has had that $2000 to use for free for any purpose, most likely something that could have been bought with cash. Someone else may need the $2000 for a rent payment, clothes and medicine. They borrow the same amount, for the same one month period, but since they don't pay it off they must pay a high interest rate. The less well off can use money foolishly, just as anyone can, but the point is: everyone should pay the same for the use of the same amount of money from the same provider for the same period of time. As it is, those least able to pay do so while others who could easily pay get free credit and convenience. The clear solution is: you borrow money for a period of time, you pay for it - nobody pays for anyone else.
Credit Card Nation is a great book and a historical reference for how we got into the situation we are today. |
Sobering, thoughtful, compelling
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| Review Date: January 31, 2001 |
| Reviewer: Mark G McCue, Denver, CO United States |
| Those of us who have had the distinct priveledge of hearing Manning speak now have this extraordinary study to solidify our understanding of the cult of credit in the United States. The author's forceful personality--and his unassailable integrity--come through very strongly here. His insight and compassion for all of us and our obsession for making it in America go to the larger question of how we as driven consumers equate credit with time: the crisis of life spans increasingly regarded as inadequate for experiential fulfillment. No longer is it a question of status, but of opportunity: If we don't buy/experience this now, we may never be able to again. Manning joins Svevo, Carlo Levi, and Gide in demonstrating how the manipulation and "evocation" of assets reflects a psychological and societal attempt to reduce inner dissonance about our mortality. Manning shows how our mania for packing our lives with sensations and stimulalting our senses to the hilt is now more about the ACT of buying that possession itself. As a result, the utter contempt extenders of credit have for those in the markets they pursue is no longer sublimated; giving the market "what it wants" has crossed the Styx of "savvy marketing" into an underworld of persuasive exploitation. Manning forces us to acknowledge our addictive propensity for money, whether we are "in glut" with it or want of it. Credit colors who we are with potential of peril for our lives. Even more, Manning sends us off into thoughts of the US's own fiscal and public policy, of a government enamored of "personal responsibility" in the administration of entitlement programs, yet rife with cynical hesitation in reducing national debt to the detriment of those who would promote it, promulgate, and perpetuate it. In the end, nothing is simple, and the author leaves us with the stark realization that we are in the eye of a surging whirlpool. He offers no solutions because there aren't any. In short, if you have the chance to hear Manning speak, avail yourself of it. In the meantime, be prepared to be enthralled with Credit Card Nation and be disturbed by it. It's a rare, communicative work of sociological scholarship that any reasonably alert, unflinching reader can grasp immediately and retain. |
Mr Manning Should Be Honored By Congress
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| Review Date: April 12, 2001 |
| Reviewer: , |
| Robert Manning has provided a vital service to our nation...for many years I was caught in the credit vise, fortunately I entered a counseling program and paid off $30,000 in consumer debt, which I would have been saddled with forever. Sadly, a great portion of our national wealth is consumed by the banking industry, earning it's greatest profits from those who are the most vulnerable. Can one survive without credit cards? I am living proof that says "absolutely." The credit industry would have us believe that their cards are a necessity. They are not. Mr Manning goes into great detail explaining the reasons we got to the point that college students with no income receive multiple offers for credit and get into deep debt, some with tragic circumstances. Read this book if you have ever used a credit card or anticipate educating your children about this important subject. |
Excellent
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| Review Date: February 24, 2001 |
| Reviewer: , |
| A very explosive view of what may be a financial disaster for the individual, but huge profits for Corporate America. Well-researched and thoughtful, this book paints a picture that may make your blood run cold.In order for there to be victims, there have to be Victimizers. There is no substitute for individual responsibility, but the Big Sell of debt as a way to support inflated expectations is seductive. This book shows how debt was made acceptable and how the credit industry seduced a nation. |
Credit Card Nation
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| Review Date: February 8, 2001 |
| Reviewer: , |
| An insightful, cogent and comprehensive analysis of how our individual and corporate debt woes began, evolved, and are on the brink of crashing in on our heads unless the credit industry takes immediate and pervasive (!) responsibility for the monstrous cash cow it has produced. With its udder full to overflowing, overabundant access to credit is about to explode, with disastrous consequences. Robert Manning is no fatalist; he also has a great sense of irony and proportion. Nevertheless, the bullets keep flying.. for example: If the majority of start-up capital used by entrepreneurs is borrowed from their credit cards, what will happen to the future of small businesses if credit begins to become restricted to this groupof individuals ? What responsibility should the credit card industry take to training young adults about the practical use of credit cards, particularly as relates to actual cost and long-term effects of making and maintaining high balances on one's credit cards ? |
You, and The Credit Card's Triangle of Debt
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| Review Date: June 30, 2001 |
| Reviewer: Caliope, Washington, DC, United States |
| Credit Card Nation is a scathing, pithy,concise indictment on our consumption- driven society, a society in which the average savings rate is now MINUS 1-3% (!),the smallest savings rate of ALL the other "1st World" countries. Corporations hold sway in Congress, regardless of who is/are in power.. Why, for example, would Joe Biden do his best to slam the Bankruptcy Bill through Congress, ridiculing all opposition ? Perhaps because Mr.Biden's greatest contributor is MBNA, one of the largest credit card companies in the country ,situated in Deleware, Mr. Biden's home state.?..But, then, credit card companies were among the largest contributors to Bill Clinton as well as to George Bush as well as to Al Gore , as well as to... so that no matter who "wins", they win. Brilliant ! Rigorously disciplined as a sociologist, Mr. Manning weaves a fascinating historically researched tale of cause and effect, combining many complex issues into one comprehensive whole. This is a monumental achievement of simplicity,done with humour, tact, and scrupulous research. Credit card companies and their allies, the banks, have done their best to discredit Dr.Manning's research, with little effect,( except perhaps for a few canned reviews, like the one from Publisher's Weekly, which thinly veils the fact that the writer never read the book! )Up to now, it is unimpeachable,and it stands, not one comma displaced. Who would benefit from this book? Everyone: Millionaires, students, bankers, housewives and husbands,those starting out and those planning retirement.Unionized workers should be among those who should take the greatest interest in this book, as well as those planning their financial futures. It is important that we all know how our lending institutions work and WHY they work that way, their incentives and their disincentives to change. It is important that we all know how this evolved over time, fueled by the junk bond craze of the eighties, and the enormous profitability of the short-long-term debt of credit cards, coupled with the repudiation of our Puritan's frugal heritage, and its concommitant restraint. Why can students without jobs get credit cards while retirees with impeccable work and credit histories cannot? Some of the answers to some of these questions may be discussed on Mr. Manning's informative web site: Creditcardnation.com. As the economy slows down, it can only be surmised as to what the upcoming freefall will produce, for unlike what lenders may like us to believe, the vast majority of borrowers do not go to Las Vegas or to Milan, nor are they frivolous in their expenditures. They pay (and pay and pay and pay )for unexpected items such as a car repair or a Hospital stay, or a divorce.. Mr. Manning's book in no way is a how-to book to repair one's credit, but it surely will go a long way to making so many complex issues comprehensible today, and fun to learn ! Even though this is a highly readable and amusing book, it is also teeming with a massive amount of information. Any chapter could easily emcompass several volumes, at length, and only one chapter is devoted to college age debt. As both the Republicans and the Democrats are eager to hear from Dr. Manning,perhaps some consumer friendly legislation will result. For those who think that this is a book about student debt, you haven't read the other nine chapters... Since this book is not just about credit's place in our society, but rather about the underpinnings ,fibre and structure of our society today , and how it got to be that way,I can only say, like so many before me, ( Was if first Heroditus ?) that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to charge their way through it. To me, this is likely to be the most important book in this first decade of the 21st century, and it will become increasingly so, as the economic situation worsens. As our parents and grandparents drummed their litanies into our heads of a penny saved is a quarter earned, and save for a soggy day,it is also true that taking care of ourselves, our families and our communities requires forethought, knowledge and patience. We could also use a good road map ! I believe that this book leaves you well on the road to fiscal responsibility; it may even effect policy in Washington... A timely book of great substance, written with tenacity, integrity and humor ! May it inspire us to take up our financial crosses and walk ... with zeroed balances on our credit cards- the only and quickest no interest loan in town ! Amen. |
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