McCain’s Credit Card Debt

Posted by: Gene M. | Jun 13,2008

Yes, I’m a confirmed Obama supporter, as well as a total political junkie (in addition to scouring the Internet for new credit and debt news).  So I was very interested to see the story stating that John McCain has a debt between $100,000 and $250,000, depending on the source.  Whatever it is, it’s big.  I’ve seen people talk about how this debt means that McCain would be a terrible steward of the economy.  I may side Democratic, but I’ll give John McCain the benefit on the doubt on this one.

Believe me, it’s a hard benefit to make because the current administration has racked up a huge amount of debt after inheriting a surplus.  So if McCain follows Bush’s policy of non-fiscal discipline, it doesn’t speak well for how the economy would unfold under a McCain presidency.  Democrats are always accused of being “tax and spend liberals.”  This administration has the “spend” part down, without much of a plan about how to earn it back.  

That said, I don’t think there’s a great relation between how John McCain manages his credit cards.  Basically, rich people have greater debt.  While $200,000 in credit card debt sounds obscene (and it is) so is the McCains' yearly income.  Cindy McCain reportedly brings in $6 million a year, and that’s without John McCain’s own assets.  So they’re racking up huge credit card debt because they can afford it.  

This is distinctly different to how the economy is currently being run.  It’s not as though we can right a huge check and get out of debt to China and other sources that have kept us afloat.  The McCains, on the other hand, could likely write a huge check and get out of debt in a minute’s time.  Responsible or not, very wealthy people just don’t think about money lost to interest due to credit cards: they can afford not to.  In addition, the interest on these cards is also much lower due to their spending habits and history.  

But it’s pretty hard to think of McCain as a regular guy with this type of spending under his belt, so on the whole this is not the kind of info that the McCain camp wants spread far and wide.  I just don’t think that just because a millionaire has a lot of credit debt means that he’d steward the economy in exactly the same manner.  

Sponsored Resources Ads by Google