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Credit Card Culture
信用卡文化
The American household has an average of 13 credit cards that, as of December 2008, resulted in $1 trillion in outstanding credit-card debt. The Obama administration passed new legislation in May that soon will require credit-card companies to give people more notice before raising their interest rates.
2008年12月的統計數據顯示，美國每個家庭平均擁有13張信用卡，欠款總額達到1萬億美元。奧巴馬政府在5月通過了一個新法案，要求信用卡公司在調高借款利息之前必須明確告知客戶。
In his new book Collateral Damaged: The Marketing of Consumer Debt to America, author Charles Geisst outlines the rise of what he calls the "Great American Credit Machine." The industry's marketing executives have been adept at framing the conversation, he says, by calling people's mounting bills "credit" rather than "debt." The credit-card companies, in turn, have made it seem like a privilege to hold their cards, a symbol of one's purchasing power. Newsweek's Nancy Cook recently spoke to Geisst about Americans' mounting debt and the way new credit-card legislation could help consumers. Following are the concerns of the current condition of American people from the author:
查爾斯蓋斯特在他的新書《間接傷害：讓客戶為美國負債的 營銷》中，描述了這樣一種所謂的“超級美國信用機器”。他指出：從事信用卡銷售的營銷經理們早就將與客戶談話的模式爛熟于心，他們通常只會提及“信用”，而非“債務”。信用卡公司反過來推銷說持有他們的卡就等于擁有特權，代表了持卡人的購買力。新聞周刊的南希·考克最近與蓋斯特談及美國人不斷增長的債務，以及新的信用卡立法對消費者進行保護的方式。以下為作者對美國人民現今處境的一些擔憂：
“There's always been this myth that we were a nation of savers who got misled. When the availability of consumer credit became a commodity, we certainly got in over our heads. Our debt ratios got higher and with rising state and local taxes thrown on top of it, people's fixed costs were higher. Having said all of that, we've been on a bender for the last 20 years and have been spending more than we earn.
有這樣的說法我們是一群受到誤導的儲蓄者。當顧客的信用被當成了一種商品，我們必然會頭腦發熱。我們的負債率越來越高，加之不斷增加的州稅地稅，民眾的固定成本居高不下。關于這些，在過去20年里我們做得有點過火了，早已把“量人為出”的觀念拋在了腦后。
When one's back is against the financial wall, people have been defaulting on their mortgages and letting the home default to the lender. They'd rather do this than default on their credit card. From 2000 and onward, people were using their home-equity lines to pay off their credit-cards bills to reduce the interest on their credit cards. Then, they'd congratulate themselves by going out to dinner. They're not realizing that they're eating part of their house at the same time.
人們背負著財務的重擔，無法償還他們的抵押借款，并把房屋出讓給借款人。他們寧愿這樣做，也要償還他們的信用卡欠款。從2000年以來，人們開始將自己的房屋凈資產用于支付信用卡賬單，以降低信用卡的利息支出。然后他們外出大吃一頓，慶祝償還了欠款。他們還沒意識到他們此時消耗的是他們自己的房屋。
People use credit cards as a source of working capital. They fund everyday living on their cards. It's better to preserve the one line that you have left.
人們把信用卡用作周轉資金的一種來源，靠信用卡度日。最好還是保留一點已經偏離的生活方式吧。
Commercials paint it as a privilege to be a member. They emphasize the positive, by saying，"This shows your purchasing power." I think that's been one side of it-to stroke people's emotions. The credit-card companies are also very good at designing statements that can't be read. So, basically, it's been slick marketing and deceptive billing practices.
廣告宣揚擁有信用卡將是一種身份的象征。他們只對其進行正面的宣傳，“這顯示了您的購買力”，我覺得這種做法很大一部分是在煽動民眾。信用卡公司對于撰寫申明也非常在行，通常都寫得晦澀難懂。因此，本質上來說，這是一種圓滑的營銷、欺騙的記賬方式。
We need to reinstate a national usury law for consumer interest. There's no reason why we can't do this. Ideally, it would cap interest so that it doesn't exceed 12 or 13 percent. As far as resolving the crisis, I think the credit-card crisis is still looming. It will take a few years before people are completely stretched. Unemployment is the straw that will break the earners back. The default rates already are twice what they used to be. I think it'll get worse.
出于對消費者利益的維護，我們必須重新修訂髙利貸的國家法律。我們沒有理由不這樣做。理想來看，它將對利息進行限制，不得超過12%—13%。只要解決這個危機，我相信信用卡的危機也就來了。民眾要完全恢復需要很多年。失業問題將會成為那壓垮駱駝的最后一根稻草。銀行壞賬率巳經是正常的兩倍了，我想情況還會變得更糟。
There's about 300 million in the country are in credit debt, and the average household has about 13 credit cards or four per person. It's fair to say that if we multiply that by the population, then we have well over a billion credit cards floating around. In the later months of 2008，we had $1 trillion of consumer debt outstanding. Eighty-five percent of that was represented by credit cards and about $750 billion was actually securitized, meaning it wasn't in the hands of the original lender. What I find interesting is the numbers. Just before the Depression started in 1929, we had a population of 130 million people, and we had outstanding consumer credit of $6 billion dollars. It's clear that there's something going on here. People can't stop spending.”
全國有大約有3億人擁有信用卡欠款，平均每個家庭擁有13張信用卡，人均是4張。如果乘以我們的人口總數，那么我們有10多億的信用卡在外流通。在2008年底，未償還的信用貸款達到1萬億美元，其中85%是信用卡欠款，大約7500億已經轉為債券,這就意味著這些債務已經不在原來的借款人手里了。我覺得這個數字非常有趣。在1929年大蕭條之前，我們有1.3億的人口，我們的未償還借貸為60億美元。而現在很明顯有什么事情正在發生，人們無節制地進行著消費。
