You’re oddly hostile for a post where I offered advice. Obviously we’d be better off if there were strong protections in place. No one is arguing otherwise. I offered practical advice that you and your loved ones should follow to protect yourselves and you act like I’m saying the system is perfect and nothing should change.
If you posted an article about people were dying in car crashes and I said to make sure you wear a seatbelt, you’re acting as if I said we shouldn’t continue to try to make travel safer. Wear a seatbelt! And make sure you know how finance works before taking out a loan.
Dude my 60 year old aunt from Mexico can barely speak English and didn’t finish high school because she had to work. She can barely figure out how to use a phone. Do you think she’s gonna know how Google works? Guess what she needs to own in order to get to work every day? A car!
It’s not as simple as putting everything on the responsibility of the consumer when at times those things can be a necessity. There have to be protections in place to prevent predatory behavior.
That’s something the gov’t is supposed to mandate because businesses don’t give a shit. They’re only there to make money for the corporate bosses and investors.
Caveat emptor is not a universal mantra everyone knows or understands.
I mean the government hasn’t put up any protections yet. I support them putting up protections. Until they do, someone’s providing actual advice of what to do instead of crying, getting scammed, or not buying a car.
Saying “educating people is a lot easier than fixing the system” is not as easy as actually educating people. Telling people on lemmy to build an amortization schedule is like pissing in a lake of piss. We’re a bunch of frugal nerds.
What exactly would an effective system to educate people on loans look like in the US? Either all 50 states would have to agree to mandate financial literacy in every school or the federal Department of Education would. Then each school has to adopt the policy and make sure teachers are equipped to teach while having a benchmark/test to show it’s effective. That brings in a private company to develop the test and education material. Then you have schools who can barely hang on to teachers that are qualified enough to teach. Some districts are at the point where they just need warm bodies to be babysitters.
So let’s say we develop a robust financial literacy program in all US schools. Say Biden’s Education Secretary makes it their agenda and 50 states agree to take this on and mandate it for their public schools. That still leaves massive gaps in our system. Anyone older than the initial cohort will be at a disadvantage. Anyone from a non-English speaking background or is mentally handicapped will be at a disadvantage. You’d need edge cases to educate them.
So tell me is it really, truly easier to educate people and fix the problem that way? Or would it be easier to pass policy that prevents or mitigates predatory lending behavior in the first place? In an ideal world we would have both!
I know Lemmy users hate being told they are wrong so go ahead and downvote me. It’s not like I’ve spent a third of my life working with the government and studying policy or anything.
English isn’t my first language. I read your comment as one that advocates for education vs fixing the problem. I’m so sorry. No need to be a jerk :(
Edit: actually I think I’m probably done with Lemmy. People are way too quick to insult and it’s not worth putting in effort on productive comments here. Have rarely felt so unwelcome on a platform.
Poor uneducated people are being oppressed by corporate shills… Best you got it "learn the rules of the game: basically?
You’re oddly hostile for a post where I offered advice. Obviously we’d be better off if there were strong protections in place. No one is arguing otherwise. I offered practical advice that you and your loved ones should follow to protect yourselves and you act like I’m saying the system is perfect and nothing should change.
If you posted an article about people were dying in car crashes and I said to make sure you wear a seatbelt, you’re acting as if I said we shouldn’t continue to try to make travel safer. Wear a seatbelt! And make sure you know how finance works before taking out a loan.
Sorry you’re getting downvoted, OP. Sometimes it not worth the effort to reply here. Too many people think they are better than others.
I think the advice is really “at least google it before signing a contract”.
Dude my 60 year old aunt from Mexico can barely speak English and didn’t finish high school because she had to work. She can barely figure out how to use a phone. Do you think she’s gonna know how Google works? Guess what she needs to own in order to get to work every day? A car!
It’s not as simple as putting everything on the responsibility of the consumer when at times those things can be a necessity. There have to be protections in place to prevent predatory behavior.
Well I don’t disagree but if those protections aren’t in place then it’s up to the consumer to protect themself.
That’s something the gov’t is supposed to mandate because businesses don’t give a shit. They’re only there to make money for the corporate bosses and investors.
Caveat emptor is not a universal mantra everyone knows or understands.
I mean the government hasn’t put up any protections yet. I support them putting up protections. Until they do, someone’s providing actual advice of what to do instead of crying, getting scammed, or not buying a car.
Educating people is a lot easier than fixing the system. No reason we can’t try to do both.
Saying “educating people is a lot easier than fixing the system” is not as easy as actually educating people. Telling people on lemmy to build an amortization schedule is like pissing in a lake of piss. We’re a bunch of frugal nerds.
What exactly would an effective system to educate people on loans look like in the US? Either all 50 states would have to agree to mandate financial literacy in every school or the federal Department of Education would. Then each school has to adopt the policy and make sure teachers are equipped to teach while having a benchmark/test to show it’s effective. That brings in a private company to develop the test and education material. Then you have schools who can barely hang on to teachers that are qualified enough to teach. Some districts are at the point where they just need warm bodies to be babysitters.
So let’s say we develop a robust financial literacy program in all US schools. Say Biden’s Education Secretary makes it their agenda and 50 states agree to take this on and mandate it for their public schools. That still leaves massive gaps in our system. Anyone older than the initial cohort will be at a disadvantage. Anyone from a non-English speaking background or is mentally handicapped will be at a disadvantage. You’d need edge cases to educate them.
So tell me is it really, truly easier to educate people and fix the problem that way? Or would it be easier to pass policy that prevents or mitigates predatory lending behavior in the first place? In an ideal world we would have both!
I know Lemmy users hate being told they are wrong so go ahead and downvote me. It’s not like I’ve spent a third of my life working with the government and studying policy or anything.
I suppose I simple wasn’t pedantic enough for you- posting a comment educating people and trying to fix the system are not mutually exclusive.
You’re not wrong, you’re just arguing against a point you made up and doing so like a prick.
English isn’t my first language. I read your comment as one that advocates for education vs fixing the problem. I’m so sorry. No need to be a jerk :(
Edit: actually I think I’m probably done with Lemmy. People are way too quick to insult and it’s not worth putting in effort on productive comments here. Have rarely felt so unwelcome on a platform.