American Freedom by Liora Leah
Created 11-14-2008
8.5" X 11"
Tissue Paper over Cardboard
Glitter Glue
shredded credit cards
I shredded 3 store cards and one bank credit card to help myself stay economically solvent; looking at the pile of shreds, the idea for this art work came to me.
You wouldn't believe the difficulty I had cancelling two of the store cards--the telephonic card reps tried to entice me with all kinds of deals in order to have me keep the cards active! Now I carry only two cards in my wallet--one is a debit card; the money comes right out of my checking account. The other is a bank card with a low limit. I have another bank card I keep in my locked files--it has a high limit and is for emergency use only; so far, it's dormant. And I have one store card I also keep in the locked files for a discount clothing store I go to on occasion--just for keeping the card, the store sends me 15% off coupons every now and then. Any other store I go to, it's pay in cash or use my debit card--that way, I have to have the money available. When I do use the low-limit credit card, I pay it off right away to avoid the interest.
I figure, if we all can slash just one or two credit cards and vow to have the money available before we buy, then we'll all be better off. I have no idea how that'd affect the economy, though, which seems to run off of credit, debt, and interest.