Never said there weren't costs to it. You're essentially opting out of a middle class lifestyle. That didn't bother me 10 years ago. Now I want those things, and I'm finding that consumer credit is practically the only way to get them on a reasonable time frame. They simply cost too much to save up for.
Consumer credit is the parent that loves you no matter what and will always take you back no matter what you say to them or how badly you fuck up. Being a market industry, naturally that love is predicated on them making money off of you, but still, it adds to modern life more than it takes away. And I find it a mark of maturity to recognize that fact.
Well, it's not _things_, plural, that consumer credit is required to obtain. Just one thing singular, since really the only thing you _need_ consumer credit for is home ownership.
(Pretty much anything else, you can save up for and/or get a cheaper yet comparable used/etc option simply by being shrewd. It just doesn't make a lot of financial sense to use credit for a car, furniture, etc, when you can get them affordably by just not being dumb enough to want brand new crap)
But that one thing, home ownership, is totally a biggie. I rent, and it sucks to have to worry every June about whether this is going to be the year we have to move because the landlord doesn't feel like renewing our lease this time
Consumer credit is the parent that loves you no matter what and will always take you back no matter what you say to them or how badly you fuck up. Being a market industry, naturally that love is predicated on them making money off of you, but still, it adds to modern life more than it takes away. And I find it a mark of maturity to recognize that fact.