Debt and Instant Gratification

One of the supposedly Christian values is to stay away from materialism. But America, the supposedly Christian nation, is extremely materialist, and France, the supposedly secular nation, is much less materialist. 

I just finished sending in my French tax statement. I have not paid the taxes yet, since the French government will figure out what I owe and take it out of my bank account. But I had to let them know how much I’d already paid in American taxes, for which they will not double-charge me. Last year my French tax was zero; apparently my American taxes were higher. I do not need to report interest from savings accounts; the banks automatically send this information to the French tax bureau.

Even if taxes are higher in France, something of which I am not convinced based on personal experience, life is really nice here. Many services are available to the public. I am glad to live here. Life just seems calmer here.

One indicator of this is credit card debt. I finally paid all my consumer debt off before I left America, and here in France, not only do I have none, but it is legally difficult to get in debt unless it is for a mortgage. Americans, averaging $5915 in credit card debt, have the highest debt levels in the world; France is number 18, with an average of $1616. There are many reasons for this, of which I will mention just two.

First, France has really good health care and virtually nobody has medical bankruptcy. In America, medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy, affecting (according to Forbes) 530,000 Americans a year. Americans usually charge their expensive medicines to credit cards (I did), and this adds up to quite a chunk of change. It is over $600 per person. Medicines are cheap in France; for one of my medicines, forty times cheaper even without government insurance.

Second, the French have less instant gratification than Americans. The attitude in America seems to be, I gotta git me one of them things, while in France it seems to be, For what would I need that thing? The French spend less on personal pleasures (except wine and cheese), and I see very few ostentatious cars. Their number one vacation destination is someplace else in France. Gasoline is more expensive here, but their cars are smaller and they drive less, especially when commuting. They save up to buy small houses. Only hunters have guns, and not very many.

In this second way, I think the French are less materialistic than Americans. They are satisfied with waiting, and with less.