Dreaming of Debt

We have so many dreams that people think can happen if we just imagine them within the empire. These dreams are propagandized and put on pedestals to such an extent that nobody sees the flaws in continuing to perpetuate such “dreams” if the circumstances surrounding those dreams have changed. Meanwhile, there has been a psychological campaign against most of humanity that states a failure to fulfill such dreams is a mark upon someone’s worth, despite all contrary evidence available in a multitude of media. In reality, most of these dreams require holding pieces of the dream while other factors play a deeper part, and by that I mean the debt required to attain these dreams.

We are still peddling the myth that paying rent is throwing away money when rent is what keeps people from living on streets. True, the Appraisal Foundation and other nefarious groups have made it so that equity can only be earned through a mortgage, but that is merely an issue of congressional will, not people “throwing money away.” Often, people secure mortgages not even because they want to “own” homes, but to stop the relentless increase in rent that fewer people can afford. To counter this tactics, local governments have responded by letting real estate developers run electoral politics, and and now everyone–even homeowners–has to deal with ever-increasing property taxes. Not being shackled by low income is not an option in the era of insatiable greed.

By the way, how is anyone getting to these houses that are being built “affordably” far away from the “elites,” who hate looking at poor people? Well, of course, everyone is supposed to have car loans for their vehicles, even though cars depreciate in value the second they are driven from a lot. People are required to put gas in cars and have insurance, and commuting culture sustained much of the fast food industry before online ordering completely changed the game–and it has. I cannot imagine people my age coming into fast food now without being shocked by the pace, since online ordering did not exist when I was in high school. One of the reasons that I have vowed never to buy either a house or a car is because a former Black colleague–one I did not even like–was denied promotions for years, and bought a house 90 minutes away when she finally got one, and was killed on her commute. Houses and cars are not worth my life to attain.

The mythology that everyone should just start a business has very little to do with wanting people to develop autonomy, and everything to do with the “elites” hoping that they can get all the poor people they can locked into business loans. Only the “elites” have high lines of credit, good rates, and the possibility of repaying those loans. Everyone else becomes a slave to their “dream,” and as a former business owner who used credit, yes, I am still paying back the money spent trying to gain my autonomy. There is no magical world where people automatically have paying customers who will entice others, and all the marketing in the universe does not loosen purse strings. Starting a business is hard, thankless work, and only those with established reputations make it past the first year.

Telling everyone that we should be dreaming of debt has been a powerful lie told for centuries, and people are just now waking up to the dishonesty of using innocuous wording to keep folks trapped. Yes, people want to be housed, but owning a mortgage is something else, and property taxes are the wild cards. Driving is relatively enjoyable, but all the reckless driving in the world will mess up credit scores with repossession before the GAP insurance expires. Business management is difficult for even the monied, so the last thing the working class needs to do is jump without safety nets for a delusion. Why should anyone dream of debt when all the financial crises are caused by the “elite” gambling on our debt? In this day and age, we should have better dreams, and maybe some that allow us to better sleep.