Holiday spending beginning to exceed annual income

The easy availability of credit and general abhorrence of responsibility for ones’ actions are two of the primary reasons for the problem, noted study author Professor Malcolm Ross.

“Every year it seems American consumers take steps to a greater level of irresponsible spending,” Ross said. “Previous generations of consumers would go with a simple holiday season or one that fit within the family budget.

“In recent years, however, the trend has gone from careful spending to stretching the budget to a complete disregard for fiscal responsibility.”

On the issue of credit, Ross said he is enjoying watching the big financial firms struggle under the weight of billions of dollars of write-offs as they pay for their mistakes.

“Before the home mortgage crisis, the banks were preparing new adjustable rate holiday financial products with credit lines of up to five times the value of the home securing the loan,” Ross said. “They were going to throw in a free t-shirt, and you wouldn’t even have to bring in paperwork proving you owned a home.”

“Now they’re realizing you can’t just allow people to borrow endless amounts of money under terms they can’t possibly afford.”

Augusta Mall shopper Janet Boyd was insulted by the implication that she did not have a plan for her holiday spending.

“I have a budget of about $30,000 for the holidays this year,” Boyd said, “and on an annual income of nearly $36,000, I think I’m being very responsible.

“With rising gas prices and our kids wanting laptops and iPods, things are just getting more expensive. What other choice do we have?”

When Ross suggested the idea of careful spending or saying ‘no’ to her children, the scene turned ugly, and the results cannot be printed in a family publication.

Fortunately, this is not a family publication. She dropped a torrent of obscenities and rained blows down on his head until he was down for the count.

“That’ll teach him to offer me financial advice,” Boyd said.

Note: The News Abuser does not condone violence or fiscal irresponsibility in any way; it’s actually one of his biggest pet peeves. None of the above commentary is real or legitimate; apparently I wasn’t “too legit to quit.”