[Opinion] Debt Dieting

As obesity becomes a sickness of the body, debt becomes a sickness of the mind. As kites hang upon a jujube tree, the heart will experience troubling times with debts lingering at the back of one’s mind. The book ‘A Life Without Debt’ assesses the situation by stating that “the increase in divorce rates in the U.S. has parallel formation to the increase in personal debt rates.” With the increase of household debts, marriages are dissolved and families break down. The British have developed phrases such as “debts make a free man a slave”; “liabilities are the greatest form of poverty”; and “earn debts and earn worries.”

The indebted are commonly called sinners. When borrowing money, they will have to cater to the demands of the lender, becoming servile and obsequious. In paying off high interest rates, the indebted also have to dig into other sources of property. That is why a debt diet is a way to become happy. Without debt, families would not have to fight for monetary problems. They would not have to go into hiding in order to avoid the lenders, or experience the fear that comes from something as ordinary as a phone ring.

It is commonly known that Jewish people, who are strongholds in international finance, do not go into debt. They teach their children that “it is best not to go into debt, and if you must, then you should pay them back as soon as possible.” Korean-Japanese magnates such as the Chairman of Lotte, Shin Kyuk-ho have similar philosophies. Because their credits were too weak to borrow from Japanese banks, their motto was “business without debt.” They deplore the situation in which Korean entrepreneurs, knee-deep in debt, plead to the government or banks to write off their debts.

Debt is similar to obesity in that it is difficult to resist. Like gluttony, it is hard to forego excessive spending and liabilities. One could argue that debts are a last resort, but it is clear that debts are also a habit. The former bestseller, ‘The theory of honest poverty,’ notes the happiness that comes from the diet of the mind and the body, by showing the simple lives of our ancestors. Rather than committing suicide after recklessly piling up card debts, it is advisable, rather, to enjoy what you have.

Kim Chung-sik, Editorial Writer, skim@donga.com