of a florida step back from nigeria by west of energy companies in recent years, in a beach to make more profit for decades, shell has struggled with hondas of on so always feels result in from a personal failures, sabotage and fact the frequent problems lead so expensive running costs and attracted many lawsuits against the company, just as the new owner renaissance will assume responsibility for the on. so assets as well as invest, feels fast and sabotage. however, the sales will. busy reply i'll be approve of my journal fridays for reach to be completed on tuesday, schumann writes group, i'm, let's see it and also said south must not be allowed to transfer ownership on seal authorities carry out a comprehensive review of their operations and the damages they left behind in a post and asked the groups that night, genocide is must request a full assessment of assistant pollution from shell and for state of its infrastructure before approving the sales to our as village has cost depth. and the

fact that farming and fishing industries in my dearest niger delta region, life expectancy in the region is 41 years, 10 years low up and the national average. the, at the center of the problem is in the albany land, where an estimate of 2000000 barrels of oil spewed between 9 and 76 and 1991. timothy b. u. r t. a border materia, to the ukraine conflict where russia say's its military has killed at least 64 in mercenaries, mostly french nationalists in a high precision strike, or senior correspondent, the rock as they of texas through what's known. so this is the latest strike as strike on a building or a base where for much as well as you create the nationalist of staying headquarters in over the last several weeks. that'd be the get a slew of such strikes, julio,

but we will be paid off to the 1st few months of uh, of this conflict went board most for the most of these items. are you kidding me? that you had loved the lesser they? they tried not to place too many people in one place at the same time, evidently here they had gotten neither complaisant or lazy. this comes on the heels of a state, but by the administration to prep for its president, divide your macro and saying that they have to put a huge new arms package for you. great. and even though it's the united states and other european nations, pull back on a full stop, it completely, the pinion, foreign minister, retreat, clear. but in a very characteristic fashion has been a, a dramatic p all campaign to convince western countries to provide ukraine with more weapons, with more mutation saying that if need be ukrainians would fight with shovels in

blood stripe for 60 to have died is indeed a huge loss especially considering that you can do some great legs to, to secure and to keep safe international troops because them died. obviously, is a huge blue t crated reputation to the appropriate stage. especially at the time when the western countries advice, the media or having 2nd thoughts about the creative copeland, say, increasingly the piece towards negotiations all the way forward. as opposed to what we heard in the past where we had you. if he, a niece who officials coming out saying that the victory will piece to this company can only be achieved on the battlefield, the broadcast the well, let's say thursday visit to the cost of everything studios. next. joining christie, i and guess right ahead this, the we often the credit cards as

convenient financial tools allowing us to make purchases and manage our expenses. however, it is crucial to recognize that credit card that comes with a cost a cost that goes beyond the simple flight of the card. i'm christy i in today we're going to be talking about something that effects millions of people around the world. the cost of credit card debt and how to manage it wisely. the americans total credit card balance is one point. oh, $8.00 trillion dollars in the 3rd quarter of 2023. and now that is a record high in the 2nd consecutive quarter in which americans credit card balance has top one trillion dollars and things to record interest rates, starboard inflation, and a myriad of other economic factors. credit card balances are likely to only climb higher in the near future. most people with an active credit card don't always pay

their bills in full. on average, only 35 percent of card holder say they always pay their credit card balance in full every month was 65 percent of them say they carry a balance at least some of the time. nearly half of those card holders who have cards would say that it takes them at least a year to pay it off for a while. you don't pay down the full amount due by the credit card statements. due dates, you're essentially borrowing money from the credit card companies, and this comes with a price. one of the most significant factors contributing to the cost of credit card debt is the interest rates. credit cards typically have higher interest rates compared to other forms of credit, such as loans or mortgages. this means that if you carry a balance, you're not just paying the principal amount. you're also paying interest on that balance. for all credit cards, the average

a p r is around 21.19 percent for new credit card offers. the average today is 24.56 percent credit card interest is often compounded, which means that your not just pay interest on the initial borrowed amount, but also on the accumulated interest. and this compounding can effectively can significantly increase the total amount to overtime credit card companies typically set a minimum payment requirement, which is often a small percentage of the total balance. and while this may seem manageable, making only the minimum payments can keep you in debt for an extended period of time, leading to higher overall costs. beyond the monetary costs, credit card debt can have a profound impact on your overall financial health. high levels of debt can affect your credit score, making it more challenging to secure, favorable loan term for significant purchases, like a home or

a car. and now today we're joined by bubble horwitz, chief market strategist above a trading. com. thank you so much for joining us. today, my pleasure, right? absolutely. so by the why do credit cards often have higher interest rates compared to say other types of loans? as well as far as typically credit card gap is meant to be paid off and most don't buy it. and so they use the lot of the legislation based on a credit card debt or credit card interest rates much, much higher. in fact, you can compare and just write down credit cards to use or rearrange, which the old long charge used to use as, as a lot of us were able to pass the law that you cannot bankrupt on a credit card. you're really at the mercy, and of course they advertise credit cards, so those are really channel for them. and they allow the gold of these massive amounts of debt, which they can never really pay off. because once you get so deep and it's hard to

pay off that balance, especially when you're trying to pay the minimum rate because you never know it was on the interest rate, it's almost like negative finance. and now what are the potential consequences of carrying a high balance on our credit card over an extended period of time? well, i mean, 1st of all, it makes it hard to buy anything else, right? your credit is kind of locked up and tied up to reduce your overall credit score, which is one of the things that allows the outcome of the company is the, the 3 major credit bureaus. they give you our credit score, your star continues the fall, then if you are able to get a loan from somebody else, that rate is going to be at a much higher rate. and for example, my rate might be like my rate might be 5 percent. you're getting storage higher might be 7 percent. which of those are a lot of a 2 percent is a huge amount of money over a period of time. and now how can only making the minimum payments affect the total cost and the total duration of credit card to as well. i mean for example, if you,

if you or the whole limit on your credit card and you pay the minimum, it would take you almost 30 years to pay off that total. yeah. because basically when you're paying just a minimum, you're really only paying the finance charge if you're paying that much. and so basically you put yourself in a position to be destroyed by credit card yet because it makes something else costs much more and you only get the use of that product anymore. so you re sign up and get like 30 years old. you don't get a chance to reuse again, so you defeated the purpose of borrowing the money in the 1st bush. so now can consumers actually negotiate with credit card companies to lower their interest rates? they give them a goal, she a, i mean, typically most credit card companies don't negotiate with anybody until they realize that they may not get paid or the extent of the delay in payment. so they'll, they'll re stretch the payment out. they're not going to change much, they're not gonna change most of the interest rate because of pretty much those pre

determined by your credit score and by what the going rate like in the tenure notes . because tenure notes are the, the major benchmark that everything is used to be the, the, the side, a lending amount or lending rate. so, but they will negotiate if you're doing even debt. because what does their credit card or do they just want to get paid? and basically, credit cards are actually in effect, putting money into the system because people are borrowing very similar to the, for actual banking, you know, shadow back. and that's really kind of what you're doing. you're borrowing money that really doesn't exist to buy a debt. and it gets to be a big mess, dr. time. and now from a behavioral finance perspective. why do individuals sometimes under estimate the cost of credit card debt of all of the i'm are estimating. i think a lot of people going to exec getting that they'll make the payment. of course life happens and somebody else comes do, and they've got to make the payment. i don't think people in charge strongly get themselves so deep in debt that they can never get out. i just think that they

allow themselves, you know, it's like if you go back a number of years that you solve that 90 day saying this cash. and then the small, fine print was, well, if you don't pay a 90 days, you're going to get this entered right. it's going to be ridiculously high rates and it's going to go back to day one. so you're paying interest from day one of the time you don't get purchased and ready to go. you know, the, the, the, the shiny objects in this world, we say that the stuff that we want to get from the silver ball. and there's a lot of heavy advertising, and of course i have full intentions, are going to be able to make that payment and then i don't have the money. so i put that belt to the side, and now i'm paying gigantic interest rates. and that loan or gave you set that i'll pay $10.00. what that these actually costs me, but i just paid cash for. i know whose fault is that the consumer or the, the credit card companies for advertising, something that they know the people can't even pay for or afford. oh, that's a great question. i mean, you can talk about predatory advertising. i mean,

who are they really advertising to their advertising to the people that really can't afford it? and they're making product available to people that might not be able to do good deal with it. so i think that's a great question. i don't have the exact answer because again, the offering a product, a lender is taking the loan. can they really get forwarded? that's the question. and i think that's more irresponsible on the consumer. but yes, the right front of our company are definitely doing much of predatory lending, you know, advertising to entice you to come in and buy that product. and how can know those psychological factors influence, spend they habits and accumulation? well, i mean, yes, and we all want to keep up with the jones's. we all want i, but we all want to buy things. we all want to have nice things, and our homes are in our apartments and we want that new bar, whatever it happens to be. we want to buy it and we want it, you know, we're in

a society of instant gratification. that's one of the big issues that we, we deal with here and people want it now and knowing that they can borrow that money. uh and what again, what the adoption, i think of buying it back on time. but of course most don't. and that's what we have the credit card, right levels that record that. but again, it's, it's a system that we've created here. spoiled people that don't understand the real meaning of a hard earned dollar and actually going to work. and that becomes the bigger problem because we made money in credit to easy for everybody. yes. but are there other situations where it's advisable for individuals to use credit cards, even if they have the means to pay and gosh, i was using drugs that i use them all the time, but i pay them back. i've never had a finance charge and a credit card in my life. so yes, it's great to use it because it helps build your credit score. it helps make it easier to buy that home. you might want to buy somebody if you don't have one bill

as a credit, as far as your billing a history of pay and good credit. you know, certainly here probably there's nothing wrong with it. usually i. busy you responsibly, there is something fundamentally wrong there and buying things that you know that you're probably getting paid for. because remember, emergencies happen. you know, suddenly the foreigners bridge and use your credit cards. basically the punishment, you know, remember having to pay back and do people get learned by credit card awards like points or cash back? or these perks kind of like a secondary thought. i think just more secondary, i think that's a pop edition within the credit card industry of getting the consumer to sign up with that. i don't think the consumer says, you know, they want a credit card. you know, if they get and they don't get anyone to look at it, but then once they establish credit, then they will look to where they get the best deal. but i don't think anybody spending extra money because they're getting x amount of reward. i think that's just an entire something that's more of

a marketing gimmick and between the 2 companies to try to get you to buy or to use their credit card and sign up. and of course, some credit card companies have fees, you know, to even get that part. you know, some of the higher level charge. yeah, there's a $3.00 and $4.00 and $500.00 your annual charges just to have the right to use that for some size merchants or department stores benefit when customers get the store credit card since it's so easy to open when you're new to credit cards. so it's a true, is that a trap? well, i mean, as i believe any credit is a trap, if you cannot pay for it or you don't have intentions of paying for. but certainly the, but the store, the merchant, you remember they've now eliminated a lot of the fees that they would pay out to another company, the animals fees. we've got to keep the interest rate and they get to keep the money. and they're charging extremely higher rates as well. and certainly they, they, they allow much easier sending and don't watch already as much. so again,

if you're going into a department store and getting their credit card, that is a real danger. because every time you go into a walmart or a share, my officers especially more of a walmart or any of those major stores. i mean, they're basically counting your money that's not going to be taking away from you either to your interest or if you're studying and those are about thank you so much by that. but please stick around to bother harwell to stay with us right here after the break. and when we come back, we will discuss what countries use credit cards the most and how it effects their economies. so don't go away. the the

almost every developed and emerging country uses credit cards these days. but credit card penetration very significantly between countries. according to the world bank, canada is real and iceland where the only countries and which credit card ownership is higher than 74 percent. to compare countries such as bangladesh and morocco have a credit card penetration of around one percent in 2021. and meanwhile, in china it's credit card business has been growing rapidly, playing a key role in facilitating payments and consumption. chinese banks have issued a total of 800 1000000 credit cards as of the end of 2021, with outstanding loans, totaling 1.29 trillion dollars. roughly one percent of the loans are overdue for 6 months or longer. because of the rapid growth china, how to unveil title, rules, terrain and, and better regulate it's $1.00 trillion dollar industry,

so that lenders can monitor risks more closely. these new rules also require banks to tighten scrutiny or credit car loans and strength and risk management controls. while china is total credit card debt is higher than that of the us is the us still has the highest media and credit card debt of $5910.00. this is followed by japan at $2900.00. the u. k. a $2316.00 germany at 2052 and canada at $1604.00. meanwhile, india has the lowest media and credit card debt at nearly $302.00. but that said, it is difficult to compare credit card use in other countries as the cost of living varies greatly. the cost of living in india is 81 percent less expensive than that of the us. so it makes sense that their median usage is also lower. unfortunately

in the us, prices are rising faster than incomes. median household income has grown just 4 percent, while the overall cost of living has jumped 8 percent. and while the rise of fintech has been rate for convenience, it has created some nasty habits and consumption patterns or people are encouraged to buy now. pay later to this mentality has created deeper debt for millions as close to one and 5 americans say they have used one of these b, n p l services in the past 12 months. in contrast, these b, n p o users don't have interest fees, but can incur late fees for missed or late payments. so this can result in charges that exceed typical credit card interest rates, causing more harm than a simple interest payment. especially when it comes to gen, the credit card debt is increasing and it's falling behind on payments faster than any other generation. so for this and more,

let's bring it again by the horwitz. so now by law, how do a spending pad is very across different regions globally, and what factors contribute to these variations as well as the factors you look at is again, if you're more established, obviously you're more concerned objectively. and you're going to be more careful and you probably make enough money to go ahead and satisfy that. whereas when you get to some of the people that aren't working, some of the younger people that are not using those kind of cards, either for enjoyment or for actual expenses. you know, you, they're, they're much more free. you know, the whole society, the whole, the whole generations is all built on technology, both on of the i pay or apple pie and the different, the brand new term, all ways to credit cards. and of course, it's so easy to get to start using them and don't realize how much you're spending, you know, go back to my generation. you had a credit card to get cash in your pocket as well. they didn't have cash or bucket. you wouldn't make the purchase now everything is they've made everything. so

streamlined, so easy for someone to buy something. let me just show me, right. i'm just plugging it against the button, right? everything is easy to tap and go. and this is where the problem is. government because it's easy to stand, just like it's easy to lose money and i guess, you know, because you don't realize when you're just dealing with ships of how does a different generation span compared to the millennials or a gen z? well, i think most of the people of, of my, of them are, are very conservative and will look to spend where they can. and of course, the built up, you know, from what the, all of our lives money to, to that's for, for enjoyment, money that's for our budget. and, you know, we actually have to, you know, take care of our homes and our families. and you know, the younger people, they don't necessarily care about that and you know, money and living at home. so they, they feel free to spend more immerses, putting in a way. i think that the more we create the ability for them to spend and not have to really work for a living, the more we make life easier. just for example,

waving college data or trying to wave dollars yet is a problem because it makes the ability to think that the data is not real. and i don't have to pay it in some way that that might get really, which is not the way to be thinking. you need to be forced to get ahead of that and putting yourself in a position to pay. and now why is cash that can certain businesses and countries instead of spending money using credit cards? well, i'll make josh is always jang for, you know, a couple of reasons. a, if you are trying to sneak past the russell over even the cash in your pocket, you know, restaurants are notorious for, for not declaring sales and, and of course servers who get chips. you have, in fact they've gone to the point in our servers that attacks ahead of time on what the object should be. but you know, cache jam be jamie, but as a means you flush of monitoring spend it. but it also tells you what you have and again, or it is in many countries, it may help you in

a little bit of the tax laws because you're not declaring your entire income. and now are there specific countries or regions that stand out in terms of have a higher levels of credit card debt? and why might this be the case as well? i don't know if there's any more just enters here in the united states. we, i mean, we are in a mass of them, from our government spending to our product are spending never in history. have we been at this point in the product and then the money is a dollar amount is not important because inflation numbers change. but i mean, there's never been a time in history where there's so many people were at least at the limit on one credit card. okay. and i don't think there's any more right with spending. then there is right here in the united states on there. and how do i, how can i make factors such. c as g d p inflation and interest rates influence credit card usage and debt levels on a global scale. i don't think they have any effect whatsoever. i, i think actually most people,

they don't even look at those numbers. they hear them. but when you go to the store, when i go to the store and i are the see the number of sleepers, i know that i'm paying 20 percent more groceries. it has no effect on me. i but i'm in the business. i understand that the numbers that they're reporting are not correct, but on the average person ever even cares about what that number is nor realizes, they know when they go, they're gonna buy what they want, whatever it cost. i mean, look at, look at the chain of starbucks. i mean, how often do you think you see people bank $6.00 for a cup of coffee? like it was not like it was free and not even thinking about the around vacations of how much they're actually sending out invest the bigger issue. there's nobody looks at the bigger picture nor they care because that's the cost. that's why i'm paying, i got a credit card, let me use that my apple phone there and take care of it. and i'm all the and now are there instances where economic downturns have led to a significant change in credit cards, funding behavior, as well as like if we get a big economic downtime and, and things get recognizably ugly. i mean,

i would say right them as they are right now, but the average consumers that are affecting them right now, they're still able to borrow money to pay their minimum to their minimum payments. if we get, you know, job layoffs, we get a real recession or real depression or something like that, that will weigh solve the spending, but it will not delete the depth and has already been created. then of course, that will be a hardship for those who are not working. they have these payments building up and up and off because again, the interest rate does not stop because the economy is slowing down. now in emerging markets, how does the adoption of credit cards influence spending habits and data accumulation bomb and emerging market you're trying to build a business. people are having money, you know, basically for the 1st time or have the opportunity just to have this, this funding and having some freedom to go out to a store and spend. and again, i think that's a great place to be, you know, when you have an opportunity, you haven't had it in the past. you know, again what you're coming out of,

you know, the dark ages into a real city or a real society. and i think that's a great part of it, but i think that was still the education system globally does not teach people that, that is real and that has to be paid back. and that if you, if you let it get too far away, you know, people think about investing in their irish and borrow one days. but they may have a 12 percent or 20 percent rate on their credit card. and there are boiling heezer . i'm drawing a rich 6 percent. it's not a very good trade when you look at the bigger picture and people are looking at that way. and that's a sad situation. but hopefully in the emerging markets, they'll educate them and say, hey, this is a, this is a tool that you can use when you go to buy something that you have to be prepared to pay it off. and you have to understand that the interest rate that you're paying here is pretty high a. yeah. so how does a credit card done differ between developed nations and developing nations while they're in development and she is much harder to probably get credit. okay. because

they don't have the same history, the same, the same, the same work history and all of the things that go along with a, with a new economy or a new country. but in, in develop nations, you know, that we've already established the fact and, you know, they, they've already have is wonderful working models for, for the product. our companies, they've been due to entice dollars to spend more. and of course, spend more, they have to lock them up and that, and that's really one of the big stores in the company was you want of your employees to get and that's where they have to work or and now with the rise of digital payments or fintech solution, how does the landscape of credit card debt change was often get worse because again, the easy you may get this done, those dollars on the age of 5 to region by box and even i can just put it on my phone or i can just you know, to do something else that makes it very easy to make it for people to spend money. but more money they're gonna stop. and i think that's

a better problem that is going to be developed here and do genuine, to get worse. which is why the reason that we see so much debt among the, the gen 0 is that because of course, the debt is so easy to accumulate without, without hardly even making m. oh, right. you have to go in a lot of stores has gone to apple pay all you know out of i don't have a way myself so you can buy from that. you guys are apple valley, but they are advertising that margaret. they want to come in down to spend their money, and they want to accumulate that interest rate because that's just another profit center for the loan. and now after someone accumulates so much that are there ways to get out of it, or how can people get out of debt as well? the already got done is by taking it off. i mean, this is one of the lobbyist really did a number on the, on the consumer because they've got time, where's the pass laws that the credit card debt is not discharge of all by reimburse. so they're either gonna have to pay,

or they're going to be in legal trouble and fighting legal bills. and that is something that is, you know, that we didn't use to be, but you know, number of years ago, the lobbyist in the best time was to vote to not to my credit card debt did not discharge of all by bankruptcy. so that becomes a much bigger problem because of course, that puts you in debt or an inductor expression for absolutely, that's the unfortunate reality. thank you so much by the horse for all your time today. well, credit cards offer convenience. it's essential to recognize the potential costs associated with credit card debt. there are winners and losers when it comes to finance and credit card companies want to keep you in debt for as long as possible, so they can continue to make money off of interest payments. so even though it is convenient credit card debt can turn you into a big loser if you don't pay and play by their rules. i'm christy. i thanks for watching and we'll see you right back here next time on the cost of everything.

the the, the, the pakistan academy side tit for tat strikes against are really into are 3 with local officials saying 7 the civilians helping kills and also ahead the, the us palms further sites in the m and after the who's the rebel through the target send american ship in the red sea.