[DaRizzle]

Originally Posted by essbee

bogut is a moron because spending beyond one's means is not based on culture or time, it's something the excessively rich have always done going back to King Solomon and before him. The Sultan of Brunei doesn't really NEED 5000 cars anymore than Jimmy Swaggart NEEDED gold-plated faucets. And I don't see anybody whining about cultural deficiencies when Jay Leno brags about his car collection.

You are talking about people that could actually sustain the lifestyle...He is talking about people who get massively inflated incomes for only several years of their life. On the whole the culture of the NBA is to flaunt

[iversonfan 349]

They just need to buy less stuff and be smart with there money.

[Hibachi!]

Originally Posted by DaRizzle

You are talking about people that could actually sustain the lifestyle...He is talking about people who get massively inflated incomes for only several years of their life. On the whole the culture of the NBA is to flaunt

Repped

[essbee]

Originally Posted by DaRizzle

You are talking about people that could actually sustain the lifestyle...He is talking about people who get massively inflated incomes for only several years of their life. On the whole the culture of the NBA is to flaunt

Jimmy Swaggart's financial problems upon revelations of his sex scandal would fly in the face of that argument. Same with Jim Bakker who went to jail after being nationally prominent.

[HB]

Essbee pretty much summed it up. People want to act like its only NBA players splurging out there, guess what, the whole damn country is full of people living above their means. The friggin government is 9 trillion dollars in debt. You dont even want to start talking about average individuals' credit card debts

[HB]

Originally Posted by DaRizzle

You are talking about people that could actually sustain the lifestyle...He is talking about people who get massively inflated incomes for only several years of their life. On the whole the culture of the NBA is to flaunt

You mean American Culture dont you

[Geaux Tigers]

Originally Posted by HB

Essbee pretty much summed it up. People want to act like its only NBA players splurging out there, guess what, the whole damn country is full of people living above their means. The friggin government is 9 trillion dollars in debt. You dont even want to start talking about average individuals' credit card debts

I completely agree with everything you say in this post but think for a second why people would target NBA players or other athletes as opposed to the regular American.

When you consider what they do for a living and how much they get for doing it coupled with the fact that most of these guys have poor backgrounds you would think they would seize that great opportunity. Thats why it's so shocking because the amount of money involved. People are just as shocked about businessman who blow it all but businessmen aren't on television all the time either.

[Geaux Tigers]

Originally Posted by essbee

I don't understand why people talk about it being a problem of today when we can clearly trace a lot of these same habits back to the credit debt boom of the reagan years. Hell, the entire notion of credit debt being so prevalent among normal citizens proves that overspending is not remotely limited to the rich. Isn't credit debt like 10k per card carrying household in this country? All these people getting their houses foreclosed on ****ty arm loans weren't NBA athletes.

You really can't go back to the 80's and act like thats enough time past for comparison. Widespread acceptance, ease of acquiring, etc that we know today began in the 80's.

[Hibachi!]

I don't think the issue is debt. I think it's the issue of the amount of money they are making, money very few people in this world have a chance to make, and they are coming out in debt. The average person can barely afford a house, yet alone a $350,000 car... No it is not limited to NBA players, but speaking of it as if it's like "So what, a lot of Americans are in debt." just doesn't make much sense.