You can still do this using a debit card. I'm not 100% sure how your credit is affected if you never get a credit card though. I know there are other ways to build up credit. Also, credit cards make products more expensive, there's probably a transaction fee for debit cards too.
> There were no ATM's. To get cash out of your account, you went to a bank teller, and there was no fee.
But you could only get money out of your own bank? You can now get an account at many banks/credit unions that waive atm transaction fees.
> Only rich people had credit cards. If you had debts, a credit card was harder to get.
100% agree that we need to bring this back. If you don't have good credit, 760+ you shouldn't be allowed to have a credit card with high interest rates.
> Nobody went into debt for college. You either saved money in advance or worked your way through.
Why is college so much more expensive now? Even online/"low cost" programs.
> There was no pizza delivery. Even supermarkets had much less pre-made food, so people had to at least try to cook.
Really, no pizza delivery?! Well I guess with oil shortages that's believable.
> The work week was five hours shorter. You can still see this in the old phrase "nine to five." People actually did work nine to five, with a paid hour for lunch.
There are many people who work multiple jobs to make ends meet and the vast majority aren't doing what they want.
> Tapping a phone was difficult, both technically and legally, and you could safely assume your phone calls and letters were private.
:(
> Everybody was afraid of "crime" (illegal acts by people of lower social class) and "terrorism" (political violence outside a state monopoly).
Yup, more of that now even though we're safer now than at any other time in history.
> Doomsayers were worried about something they called the "greenhouse effect". They said if we didn't reduce our carbon emissions soon, the world would heat up and we would have ecological disasters.
Not just doomsayers, but looks like oil companies knew about it too but decided to keep it hidden.
> There was an oil shortage, and people responded by driving less, in more fuel-efficient cars.
I saw the first Hummer H2 I'd seen in years a few weeks ago costco pump in the bay area when oil prices were ~$2.15/gallon. It all boils down to economics.
>> You payed by cash or check
> You can still do this using a debit card.
His point wasn't debit versus credit. It was that one had to have the actual paper cash or a checkbook handy when stopping at the store. It's a lot more convenient now.
I still remember my mother using a credit card (probably ~1980) and the cashier pulled out a phone-book-sized list of known stolen CC numbers. I told my mom "I hope she finds it in the book" (not knowing its purpose) and she replied "I hope she doesn't".
From what I understand, state and federal support budgets have also been cut significantly, making tuition income more important. Also, the "sticker price" has grown much more than the actual price, since more people get scholarships[1]; this is in part a psychological game - a $150k degree seems more valuable than a $30k degree, even if the students actually end up paying the same after scholarships and discounts.
You can still do this using a debit card. I'm not 100% sure how your credit is affected if you never get a credit card though. I know there are other ways to build up credit. Also, credit cards make products more expensive, there's probably a transaction fee for debit cards too.
> There were no ATM's. To get cash out of your account, you went to a bank teller, and there was no fee.
But you could only get money out of your own bank? You can now get an account at many banks/credit unions that waive atm transaction fees.
> Only rich people had credit cards. If you had debts, a credit card was harder to get.
100% agree that we need to bring this back. If you don't have good credit, 760+ you shouldn't be allowed to have a credit card with high interest rates.
> Nobody went into debt for college. You either saved money in advance or worked your way through.
Why is college so much more expensive now? Even online/"low cost" programs.
> There was no pizza delivery. Even supermarkets had much less pre-made food, so people had to at least try to cook.
Really, no pizza delivery?! Well I guess with oil shortages that's believable.
> The work week was five hours shorter. You can still see this in the old phrase "nine to five." People actually did work nine to five, with a paid hour for lunch.
There are many people who work multiple jobs to make ends meet and the vast majority aren't doing what they want.
> Tapping a phone was difficult, both technically and legally, and you could safely assume your phone calls and letters were private.
:(
> Everybody was afraid of "crime" (illegal acts by people of lower social class) and "terrorism" (political violence outside a state monopoly).
Yup, more of that now even though we're safer now than at any other time in history.
> Doomsayers were worried about something they called the "greenhouse effect". They said if we didn't reduce our carbon emissions soon, the world would heat up and we would have ecological disasters.
Not just doomsayers, but looks like oil companies knew about it too but decided to keep it hidden.
> There was an oil shortage, and people responded by driving less, in more fuel-efficient cars.
I saw the first Hummer H2 I'd seen in years a few weeks ago costco pump in the bay area when oil prices were ~$2.15/gallon. It all boils down to economics.