Think about how long man has been upon this planet we all call earth which is home to us all. Thousands of years. In the overall history of man, debt and rampant consumerism are only recent man made developments.Now before those of you who are students of economics or history get all bent out of shape – I am not talking about shoes, and meat and corn and wine or IOU’s for the same – I am talking about modern man made consumer credit and its resultant debt. Debt facilitated not by the manufacturer or producer of a good or a service directly – but rather by a third party middle man lender for the purpose of enriching himself at the expense of the borrower. Even worse such debts are not even for necessary or useful things most often – but rather for junk mainly, that in the big picture is not needed at all nor of any real use. It is only a means of indenturing the borrower to the lender for the benefit of the lender and at great cost, monetarily and otherwise, to the borrower.

Not only is the lender able to extract financial wealth from the borrower – but he is able to exert corresponding control over the borrower as well. The more debt the borrower incurs the more control he or she gives up, and the less freedom and independence they have as a direct result. While many good things have been created by man over time, so have may bad things been created too. Consumer debt created by intermediary for profit third partylenders is one of those bad things. Consumer debt takes away freedom and independence and exchanges it for indentured servitude. It serves a very few at great cost to the many. The more debt people have the less freedom they have, and the less independence they have.

Freedom and independence is the opposite of everything that debt is.

Those who sing the praises of, and are enamored by credit and its resultant debt, are of course free to continue living such lives – yet I would ask the question, how is that working out? For millions we already know the answer – not well at all. How many have already lost their homes? Homes that were sold to them at prices driven up artificially through the rampant schemes. Then as the bubble inevitably burst they found them selves so far underwater they couldn’t see the surface anymore. Millions of others who are still hanging on by threads and struggling each month to make their own bloated mortgage payments on homes with more debt than value. Millions more who have incurred tens upon thousands of dollars of student loan debt, debt for degrees that are damn near worthless in many cases, and that will never produce anywhere near enough income to justify their cost in other cases, yet the debt remains. Debt which is going to cripple the borrower for decades to come. Then there is the thousands of dollars of credit card debt, car loans, equity  loans and on and on it goes.

This is debt incurred through being normal and following societies programming. There is an opposing view, one that is certainly not normal and one which by main stream points of view would be considered extreme to say the least – that is living completely debt free.

Imagine a world without any consumer debt. You can do more than imagine it. You can live it if you want it. To be sure, not everyone else around you will join you – most won’t. Thats OK. Everyone has to make their own choices, and reap their own results. But the point is that you do not have to live as a life long indentured servant. There is another way to live – debt free. Imagine earning what you earn now – but keeping it all to use as you see fit instead of giving it all to hoards of lenders each month. Imagine making progress and getting ahead instead of just getting by. Imagine the reduction of stress when you know you are producing far more income than you have to – instead of struggling to make just enough to make all those monthly payments. Imagine no more mortgage or rent payments – ever. Imagine no more car payments. Imagine no more credit card payments – not another cent for the rest of your life.

There are ways to get that life if you want it. Some are extreme. Some are more moderate. You can find a path that works for you if you want to bad enough. Despite the lifelong social conditioning and programming that debt is normal – it is man made. It may have been made “normal” over time but it certainly is not natural and it certainly is not in the best interest of the people. Nor is the notion that people are referred to as “consumers” – which sounds a lot like they are talking about a herd of cattle.

It really comes down to a choice. Continue using credit and living in debt and all that it brings with it – or eliminate debt – and gain your freedom and independence.

Which do you choose?