From the archive

Do you want to be rich or just look rich?

The problem isn't the loan itself. You can borrow money for different reasons, and treating every bank agreement as a moral failure is stupid. The problem starts when you take on obligations to create an impression your actual life can't make. You want to look like someone who has options. So you buy something that leaves you with fewer of them. Then you have to maintain the image. A car like that needs the right clothes. The clothes need the right places. The places need vacation photos from a trip you haven't earned the money for either. The set needs more props, and inside it sits one exhausted motherfucker counting the days until the money arrives, hoping payroll won't be late so he can make the loan payment on time.