Debt, Interest Rates and Silver Stacking

A lot of reactionary blame is always placed upon individuals whenever there is a news report or general conversation discussing the ever growing debt that the public is finding themselves in. Whether it is through labels such as the "need it now generation" or negatively referring to financial habits as trying to "keep up with the Joneses," it is easy for people to not feel any sympathy for those who have gotten themselves in over their heads in debt. Although it is true that individual must be held responsible for the financial situation that they find themselves in, this type of thinking erroneously focuses only on the seen actions of individuals, and not the unseen factors that impact these actions.

As this video argues, the artificially suppressed interest rate environment that individuals find themselves in has created a situation that induces individuals to not only get into debt rather than save, but to exacerbate that debt by making it easy to carry their debt balances further into the future. As Henry Hazlitt so eloquently explains in his book "Economics in One Lesson," these unseen factors should be a place of reflection for any good economist. However, these difficult to see factors go largely ignored. When someone has their house foreclosed upon them since they can no longer afford the mortgage, it is too easy to call the individual a fool, rather than comprehend how lower interest rates had the unintended consequence of discouraging saving while at the time same make it seem more desirable and simple to finance their current overindulgence's at the expense of tomorrow's wealth.

At the end of the video, I also take the time to reiterate how important it is to avoid getting into debt when the goal is to acquire a larger silver stack. It is not possible to reach our goals in relation to silver stacking if we get ourselves into debt. A large silver stack requires one to sacrifice the luxuries today, for their enjoyment in the future.

As always, we would love to hear your opinions on the topic in the comment section below. Can debt and a large silver stack co-exist?