This might be one of those posts that pisses off some people. I’m going to attack a woman, use her as an example, and then draw a conclusion about fat people from it.
MSNBC met up Mary Uhazi, who over course of a few decades of credit based spending has run up over $60,000 in credit card debt. No there’s no Berkley degree backing that, it’s all based on good ole fashioned American consumption. You know, the kind that gets Keynes’s loins burning. You can read the article to learn how she did it, but that isn’t what I’m interested in.
What I’m interested in is how pathetic and short-sighted people like Mary are. Mary tells the reporter that she never really gave her spending much thought. It always seemed like she could afford to make the minimum payments but one day a recession sent her on furlough
My good friend J. Money from Budgets Are Sexy linked to this story on Twitter last week. My web browser at work blocks out most images so I had no idea what this person might look like. After reading the article I thought to myself, I’ll be she’s fat. Sure enough, she’s a chunker.
I emailed myself the link and used the trusty iPhone to get the pictures to come up. Why does it matter if she’s fat? Well it confirmed my new stereotype and gave me enough reassurance that economists nutritionists need to team up for a study.
My theory is that there is a measurable correlation between someone’s obesity and their credit card debt. Why? Because I think the behaviors of our nation’s biggest people are very similar to the behaviors of our nation’s biggest spenders. In fact, many of them probably run up debt buying too much food.
Both the fat and the indebted fall victim to instant gratification and a failure to consider the future consequences of their actions today. The obese gorge themselves until they die of heart disease, and the credit card crowd spends until they can no longer afford the minimum payments. It’s basically a death of its own.
This is why I want to see if there is a measurable correlation between the two people. This would be an interesting anecdote and probably give psychologists enough fodder to see if there is a psychological deficiency or if it’s genetic.
So I want to give Mary a round of applause for representing everything that is wrong with America. She’s not the only one by any stretch, but she is the archetype and dumb enough to put herself in the news. Weaky for you.
If you’re thinking I’m a jerk it’s probably appropriate. However I want you to know I am someone who has struggled with obesity and won the fight. It was sheer determination and discipline that did it for me. I’m not skinny, but I did lose 75 lbs and can run a 10k without difficulty. If you don’t know what a 10k is then you probably haven’t weighed yourself recently either. Also, I know there are skinny people with tons of debt and fat people with none, what interests me is if there is a correlation at all.
Photo: menetekel
 By The Weakonomist |
The Weakonomist is the founder of Weakonomics. Clicking the picture of the puppy will tell you more about him. If you like what you're reading consider subscribing to the blog, following him on Twitter, and checking out the related posts below. Please consider a donation if you really enjoy Weakonomics. Also keep in mind that nothing I say can be construed as financial advice. |
