Being in debt means using up the future in the present. Essentially, it’s about how we manage our time. Therefore, the most valuable resource for debtors is time, and it depends on which side time favors. Paying off debt is like repaying borrowed future time early. When the ability to generate wealth over time decreases, the future time becomes a burden, and the debtor faces the pain of bankruptcy. Taking on debt is costly. It may seem like borrowed money is repaid with money, but the irreplaceable resource of time is also returned along with interest. With the rise of postpaid credit cards as a common payment method, we’ve become less sensitive to the associated pain and cost. There are two ways to spend money: using present time or future time. The costs and pain are much higher when the future is spent as if it were the present. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”
In the 18th century, when the sun went down, people slept except for the rich man who could afford a candle. Humans lived in harmony with the natural rhythm. When machines created an industrial society and replaced human labor, people did not reduce their work but instead operated according to the machine’s working cycle. Charlie Chaplin criticized this phenomenon in his movie “Modern Times,” highlighting how mechanization forces humans to work with unprecedented intensity. Now, humans are concerned that artificial intelligence and robotic automation will diminish labor and lead to unemployment. What a contradiction! Rest is not an automatic benefit; it is a holy declaration of war that I must strive to achieve, not to disturb my rest on purpose. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”