Last week Wednesday some classmates and I watch the documentary Maxed Out, which addresses the entrapment of credit card debt. Going into this film, I had little knowledge of credit cards. After watching this film, I realized there is even more I did not know. This video was originally created by James Scurlock to find humor in the crazy spending habits of people with credit card debt, but the realities of this issue really showed through in these people’s lives, and caused the producer to turn the film more emotional and serious and less humorous as he focused on the stress and turmoil these people were in.
This documentary definitely made me more aware of the debt crisis in America. This film was produced in 2004, so I am sure the situation has only worsened since then. The lenders giving out the money target the lower working class. I believe that they are partially responsible for the debt crisis because they make it very easy for these people, who may already be in debt, to get multiple credit cards, knowing that they will have trouble pay it back; and that is where they make the profit.
Although this film had many informative pros, there were also some flaws. A review on this film addresses many of the same concerns our group discussed after watching the film. One is the lack of a narrator. I think a narration throughout the film would have helped to tie everything together and connect the dots, because at times I was a bit lost. The movie seemed to focus on the emotional side of debt crisis, and tug at the heartstrings a bit. While it was terrible to hear stories of families in turmoil, people going missing, and teens committing suicide because of credit debt, the movie seemed to lack focus on the subject of personal responsibility. Everyone interviewed, were shown as victims of the lenders.While it is true that the credit industry does target the poor, we need to realize many people are in debt because of poor decisions. I believe as Christians, we are called to live and spend responsibly. I also realize that we must be informed and knowledgeable on this topic, and therefore able to discern if a credit card is a wise choice.
I agree with your opinion on how the debt crisis is not only the lenders' fault, because many people believe that the root of this problem is driven from somewhere higher up, but I think also people, who get in debt easily, are lacking ability to make proper decisions or even the consequences that allow them to avoid overuse of credit cards.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very important kind of film to be showing to college students like us especially now that we are getting out of our parents wings into the financial world. When it comes to credit cards, people really go into using them, blind. There is so much information and precautions which people just ignore, or aren't even aware of. That is where I think the problem is; people are just uneducated in something that is so common and frequently used. This film gives insight to what we should be learning about in order to secure our personal and national financial security.
ReplyDeleteGood observations, Lauren (and Laura and Luke). For more updating about debt issues, particularly related to the housing and bank crisis of 2008, this episode of This American Life really boils it down to understandable terms:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/355/the-giant-pool-of-money
Most of these crises, the big ones and the individual ones, seem to come down to greed on all sides--consumers want to borrow as much as they can and lenders want to collect as much interest as possible. It's not as simple as blaming one party or another. So many of these stories involve uneducated consumers (they didn't pursue knowledge and their families didn't give it to them growing up) being preyed on by lenders.