'just use the credit card, mama'

as we grow to be seven, the world is becoming more and more legible sometimes in a way that is truly surprisingly insightful, coming from a mouth of a 6 year old boy.

Last time we were shopping and I rejected some badly needed item as too expensive, my little guy muttered 'just put it on your credit card". at first I was shocked, where does he gets this credit irresponsibility, not from us! we don't own any besides mortgage. Then I made sure I gave some lesson how the card really is money and needs to paid and worked for.

and then I read this pretty remarkably simple insight into human psyche after reading this entry in my favorite The Frontal Cortex blog by Jonah Lehrer: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/weekend-in-portland-recipe.html

quote:
"
.... one of the reasons credit cards are such a popular form of debt is that they take advantage of some innate flaws in the brain. When we buy something with cash, the purchase involves an actual loss - our wallet is literally lighter. Credit cards, however, make the transaction abstract, so that we don't really feel the downside of spending money. Brain imaging experiments suggest that paying with credit cards actually reduces activity in the insula, a brain region associated with negative feelings. As George Loewenstein, a neuroeconomist at Carnegie-Mellon says, "The nature of credit cards ensures that your brain is anaesthetized against the pain of payment." Spending money doesn't feel bad, so you spend more money.'