Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Let`s suppose you`re a middle-class male, working a good job, married with a couple of kids. You`re making around $80,000 per year, have a house, some cars, and life is "your life style."

At age 35 you begin taking heroin. It`s not a big deal, just a way to relax and get through the stress of the day. It`s not that expensive, because you have a decent salary and not all that much debt. Pretty soon you become physically addicted.

By the time you`re 40, you`ve been a junkie for 5 years. You`ve managed to keep up a nice front, and although your wife looks at you a bit oddly from time to time, she`s not even aware of the situation. You`re coping with work, less stressed, and you`ve even been promoted.

What happens if you lose your job?

Setting aside the financial and emotional obligations you have in your life, you now have the first signs of withdrawal. But you`ve got a backup plan, and have some heroin stashed for emergencies.

Money starts to run out, so you start selling things or borrowing from family and friends. You take cash loans, maybe a home-equity loan, sell one of the cars, and reduce your lifestyle.

But there comes a point where you can`t afford the heroin anymore, and so you go into withdrawal.

The actual effects of the withdrawal are terrible. In fact, physicians tell us that rapid withdrawal from heroin is so traumatic, people can die in the process.

Unfortunately, you don`t have that option. You`re in withdrawal, and there isn`t any more money. You`ve taken the loans, sold the assets, and with the way you`re acting, your wife has taken the kids and gone to her parents` house.

Wouldn`t you examine your physical and mental condition and argue that it was terrible? Wouldn`t you beg, borrow or steal whatever you could to get the heroin back into your system?

Is heroin "good for you?" Does it offer any nutritional value? Will it make you healthier...or is it unhealthy?

When you`re on the heroin, you feel wonderful. Do your feelings give you an accurate report on reality? Which is more accurate, an analysis or how you feel about each moment?

Suppose we replace the word "heroin" with "debt financing."

Heroin is part of the same drug family as morphine, which is a very important part of advancing medicine. We can say that morphine is to heroin as business debt financing is to consumer debt.

That`s the point; business financing usually is done by professionals. They require credibility, certification, and so forth. Just as unethical physicians might prescribe morphine or addictive substances, so too unethical bankers may accept a risky loan.

But generally speaking, morphine derivatives are controlled substances, just as credit used to be controlled. Not any more.

Nope...and I don`t feel very comfortable about a government bureaucrat, untrained in medicine telling me when I can, should or can`t have pain medication either.

And yet, that`s the world we`re undertaking to build.

None of this topic applies to arguing for legalization of heroin. Nor does it apply to legalizing consumer debt-spending. OH....wait!....we already DID legalize consumer credit cards!

Why not require a license to practice borrowing? :-D