Virginia Postrel Quotes

It saves a lot of trouble if, instead of having to earn money and save it, you can just go and borrow it.

You know, when the cost of capital goes down, when credit becomes cheap, people start taking greater and greater risks.

I never did buy things on credit, I always paid for 'em, because I can't see much difference in paying for something and just waiting a week and pay interest on it; that looks foolish to me.

Debt, we've learned, is the match that lights the fire of every crisis. Every crisis has its own set of villains - pick your favorite: bankers, regulators, central bankers, politicians, overzealous consumers, credit rating agencies - but all require one similar ingredient to create a true crisis: too much leverage.

Good debt growth is when you borrow money, and it goes into the real economy. You do capital spending. You build businesses.

Your credit score affects the interest rates you're offered on credit cards and loans, can be used to vet your job application, and in some states may influence your insurance premiums.

The farmer may often have suffered from excessive interest and grasping creditors; but it was no less frequently the avarice of the lender that got him into trouble than the fact that he was too sanguine and too prone to believe that he could safely go into debt, on the assumption that crops and prices in the future would equal those in the present.

Ours is an economy that depends on the availability of credit at affordable interest rates.

We are borrowing cheaply because we are the best looking horse in the glue factory.

A plentiful Currency will occasion Interest to be low …. many that understand Business very well, but have not a Stock sufficient of their own, will be encouraged to borrow Money; to trade with, when they can have it at a moderate Interest.

Your FICO score is an "I love debt" score. You're going to pay a bazillion dollars in interest to keep your FICO score up in order to have lower homeowner's and car insurance rates.

I have heard firsthand from several small business owners about their struggle to borrow and their fear of taking on additional debt.

An improving credit landscape means fewer loans are delinquent - and fewer people are needed to service these loans.

The more debt we owe, the wealthier we are.

Because I wrote a book about Goldman Sachs. And I know that, from talking to people at Goldman Sachs, that Trump is the poster child for the kind of client they don't want to do business with, mainly because he would borrow all this money from Wall Street to build his casinos, and then didn't pay it back.

With all this consumer debt, business debt, government debt, smaller movements in interest rates have a magnified effect. a small movement can tip the boat.

Credit is probably more acceptable in American culture than elsewhere.

I lost my computer business when I was 29 because I gave credit to firms I didn't investigate. I lost my house and had to move back in with my parents and then I lived in an office for six months.

What you want to watch are the lenders, not the borrowers. The borrowers will always be willing to take a great deal for themselves. It's up to the lenders to show restraint, and when they lose it, watch out.

Good debt accrues assets that generate positive returns and externalities.

Modern economies rely on debt, which encourages productivity and growth. But that system of credit requires consequences for debtors who default.

There is no point in being a bond vigilante if you cannot influence governments and central banks by selling bonds.

Higher capital requirements increase bank costs, and at least some of those costs will be passed along to bank customers and shareholders. But in the longer term, stronger prudential requirements for large banking firms will produce more sustainable credit availability and economic growth.

To borrow scarce is better than to beg; As lending, lending upon interest, Scarce better is than stealing.

Be careful when you take on debt. If you take on debt personally, make sure it is small. If you take on large debt, make sure someone else is paying for it.