From Chapter Nineteen:

How Short-Term Thinking Wrecked the Industry
. . . and Pummeled Your Wallet

“Wanting isn’t the problem. Problems occur when we develop
the habit of indulging every want, or wants we cannot afford.”
  
—J.D. Roth
 www.getrichslowly.org
  
"...Democracy and the free-market economy are the best environments in which to live, work and worship. These freedoms are as fundamental to our American way of life as it gets. When you can’t live, work, and worship where and with whomever you like, it feels as if you are missing the carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen we all require as human beings. The price paid for all this freedom is the fickleness of consumers, lenders, and investors that so often accompany it.
 
"Customers have a choice of what they buy and where they buy it. Banks get to make money on virtually any and every one of these consumer choices, charging them interest on their credit cards, vehicle loans, home mortgages, and debit card transactions. Manufacturers and service providers of all types jump into the mix with “financeable” products. Retailers get to set up their tents wherever the manufacturers and government allow them to. And government gets to collect too much of everyone’s income, then tell us all what we can do with the rest. But in a democracy, consumers and voters decide who makes it in this game.
 
"We don’t have to finance as much or as long. We don’t have to buy anyone’s particular product or service that doesn’t suit us. We don’t have to elect politicians who promise to take more of our income or more of our freedoms. We have a say in the process. The problems inherent with democracy and free markets are indisputable, no doubt. It is a sad fact that greed reigns absent of oversight. This means when the cat is away, the mice will play.
 
"Manufacturers take advantage of the dealers, banks, and customers in the name of greed. Dealers take advantage of manufacturers, banks, and customers in the name of greed. Unions and employees take advantage of their employers and the government whenever possible. And quite frankly, banks take advantage of every one of those aforementioned parties in the game..."