In the second episode of Debt Heads, we head to the mall to find out if life in plastic, aka using credit cards for everything, all the time, is actually fantastic. (This is part one of a two-part episode.)Follow Debt Heads on Instagram, TikTok, Substack, Patreon and YouTube.Credits:Writing/Editing/Production: Jamie Feldman & Rachel WebsterTheme Song: "Pay For That Money," Written and Performed by The Defibulators, PigCow Publishing (ASCAP)Original Score: Ali HelnweinAudio Mix: Jeff Seelye ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Chapter 1: What is the focus of this podcast episode?
Hi, this is Jamie from Deadheads. This is episode two of this podcast. If you haven't done so already, go listen to part one because things will make more sense that way. Or don't. We're not your parents, but you might enjoy it more. Okay, don't forget a jacket and be careful crossing the street. We love you.
Chapter 2: Who are the hosts of Debt Heads?
Bye. In our first episode of Deadheads, my co-host, Jamie Feldman, revealed she was in debt. I have a lot of debt. We met her mom, Sam, who loves Nick at Night. Hello. We met her friend Rachel, that's me, who told her that, no, she can't afford to buy a $300 bathing suit. Have you worn them yet? No. Okay, so let's start by returning them.
I've returned one.
Jamie became TikTok famous, acquired some trolls.
I'm glad you're in debt.
but more importantly, discovered that she is not alone, even though she and everyone else in debt think so.
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Chapter 3: What happened in 1983 regarding consumer debt?
I never thought anybody was in credit card debt like me.
And finally, she surmised that getting out of debt might be more complicated than simply learning how to budget. For the next several episodes, these two semi-qualified sleuths Yep, that's us. are going to try to get to the bottom of what makes debt so ubiquitous in our culture and why it's so hard to get out of it. Jamie, do you know what happened in 1983?
I do. That's the year that the movie Flashdance came out and launched a generation of leg warmer enthusiasts.
That's not what I was thinking of.
Oh, okay. Well, if it's not that, then it's also the year that Donna Summer was inspired by a female bathroom attendant to write the hit song, She Works Hard for the Money.
Wow. I wasn't thinking of that either. But isn't it interesting that both of those cultural treasures, I would call them cultural treasures, featured women working blue-collar jobs when all they really wanted to do was dance?
That is interesting. But okay, what was the thing you wanted to tell me? Well, this is crazy. Okay. Get ready.
I'm ready. The thing about 1983 is that prior to that year, there was no consumer debt. Did you hear me?
Oh, sorry. Were you saying something? Yes. I was looking at my phone. I just got a proof-of-memo credit card.
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Chapter 4: How do credit cards impact American culture?
Korean barbecue fried chicken sandwich.
What do you think about it?
The chicken is a little dry. I would have preferred it a little more juicy. And I think the bun, it looks almost faux brioche. It's not as soft as a brioche.
We had driven out to this palace of consumerism, not to investigate the authenticity of the brioche, but rather to conduct a highly scientific poll of the American populace.
And despite the subpar quality of the food court's fried chicken sandwich, it was well worth the cost to hear Rivers' keen interviewing skills in action.
What do you like about your credit card? I can use it and spend money.
To have extra money?
I don't need to bring a set amount of cash. Do you usually pay with credit cards?
Yes. Do you use it a lot?
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Chapter 5: What are some common misconceptions about credit cards?
In fact, 75% of Americans get a card by the age of 25.
Yeah, having a credit card is so adult. It's basically the NC-17 rated movie showgirls.
Oh man, another great tale of a wannabe dancer who has to work hard for the money.
And working hard for the money is so adult.
When we were kids watching our parents be grown-ups, we idealized the edgier sides of adulthood. It was never doing the dishes or paying the bills or mowing the lawn. It was always a little bit sexy. Like walking around with a corded phone while applying lipstick. Tapping a keyboard with long nails. Making your high heels echo down a marble corridor.
Smoking a motherfucking cigarette.
And boy, oh boy, was it swiping a credit card.
The credit card looks at you with your dwindling cash flow and says, here, go ahead, try me on.
Don't I feel so sleek in your hand? Just swipe me, see what it does.
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Chapter 6: Why did Jamie choose a credit card to pay for her class?
Mall Madness. Sale at the shoe store. The new shop till you drop game that really talks.
Which came with its own line of store-branded credit cards.
With Mall Madness, you get it all. A bank account and your own credit card. Woo!
But as it turns out, my fantasy of swiping those fake cards as a child didn't exactly square with the reality of when I actually got my first credit card.
Tell me about your first credit card.
Okay, so I failed a class in college and I wanted to retake it, but I didn't want to tell anybody that I was retaking it because I was too embarrassed. So I decided I was going to try to pay for it myself. And so I went to The Gap.
What did you do at The Gap?
Well, I was at the Gap. You were already at the Gap. I was already at the Gap. And when I was there, I noticed that they had credit cards there. Oh, no. And I was like, oh, my God, this is genius. I'll get a Gap credit card. And I'll pay for my class on this Gap credit card. And nobody will ever know.
Oh, my God. I didn't even know you could do that.
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Chapter 7: What historical context is important regarding women's access to credit?
I don't know them.
The Holy Triumvirate. Wait, you don't know Rush? No. You don't know Rush, the band? Exit the warrior, today's Tom Sawyer? No! All right, I'm going to hit you up with a little iTunes action.
And just like Rashida Jones in the 2009 movie I Love You Man, we also didn't know anything about Rush until Paul Rudd provided us with some iTunes action.
Are you ready to get your world rocked? Ready! Well, prepare to be Rushified!
Rush is the kind of band that inspires a very enthusiastic evangelical fandom in a very specific demographic, Working Men, which Donna also understood.
and a record promoter friend of mine up in Canada sent me this album from this unsigned band. And he said to me, we're not gonna sign them, they're not ready for prime time. And I dropped the needle on a song called Working Man, and I knew immediately that this was a perfect record for Cleveland.
Well, I get up at seven, yeah, I go to work at nine, get no time for living, yes, I'm working all the time. Cleveland back then was a factory now. The sky was orange every night from pollution from Republic Steel.
And like the Pittsburgh portrayed in Flashdance, Cleveland was full of steelworkers. And I like to think a lot of wannabe dancers.
And every steelworker and dancer were picking up the tracks Donna was laying down on the radio.
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Chapter 8: What did the hosts learn from their mall investigation?
Making sure my name, because that's who I am, making sure my name is capable of being out there. Does that sound silly?
Did you know that Maya Rudolph's grandpa supposedly came up with the idea for the first credit card? No, I didn't know that.
But I did know that the first credit card came out in 1950 and was called the Diners Club card, as is hinted in this extremely subtle commercial.
Diners Club, we're just about everything. Diners Club, the first card. Diners Club, the first card.
Diners Club, the first card.
As the name suggests, the diner's club card was designed for men of the same status and class to literally dine together without the hassle of remembering their wallets. Having a diner's club card was like having a tab at a bar, but fancier.
It paved the way for what we now consider common practice, revolving credit.
But they still weren't available to anyone but these rich businessmen. And Donna, being a businesswoman, wanted to flash her fancy credit card with her clients at lunch too.
When I started running my own consulting business in the 1980s, I would take a client out to lunch and the server would give the check to my client. I called the manager over and I said to the manager, no offense, but if I don't exist, how do I leave a tip? Nobody believed that I made enough money and nobody believed that I was like a full-time working person.
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