I’ve been staring at this photo for two days but I honestly don’t get it. How can a child be in debt? Do banks lend money to small children? Can anybody explain?
I have to confess that I find the banking system in this country to be very mystifying.
I found the photo here but the accompanying post provides no explanation for it.
Clarissa's Blog 
Something to do with some USA debt to China, I think.
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At least that concerned a similar sign I saw. The amount of money was different though. Who knows?
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I think JFA is right it is probably about state debt.
I do know in Australia a child cannot enter into a contract unless it is a contract for the supply of goods that are necessary for the child’s survival.
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I think it has to do with the amount of money each American owes if we divide the national debt by the number of people in the country. Including kids.
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Oh, so these are just Tea partiers using a child as a billboard. How utterly disgusting.
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Why assume its a disgusting Tea Party protest? Your bias is showing again.
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Because the Tea Partiers are the only group obsessed with the national debt.
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Exactly. What Tea Partier has the kind of credit line that lets them charge a $30,000 bike to AmEx?
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I agree with the above- it’s probably about “their share” of the national debt.
However, I do know that parents can open credit cards or other bank accounts in their children’s name. If the parents are scrupulous, this can be great- my husband’s parents opened a credit card in his name while he was young, and only ever used it to make large purchases that they could pay off immediately. Then when he was and adult, he had an excellent credit rating which allowed us to buy a house much younger than average (that, however, turned out to be a mistake- but that’s a story for another time). However, if the parents have a problem with managing money, this is terrible because they then abuse their kid’s credit, saddling them with debt they didn’t deserve. Now weather it makes sense that parents can do this… well, I’m no so sure it should be allowed.
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Are you serious? This is horrible. What an utter disregard for the rights of children.
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I think they are trying to point out all the debt the child is going to inheritfrom the previous generation. Though it may be in poor taste it is technically very accurate(numbers may be off). Considering the world(all) is in deep financial crisis, I get the sentiment.
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Do children inherit their parents’ debts? If a parent dies while having a mountain of debt, are the children responsible for paying it?
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I wondered about medical bills actually, but I suspect JFA has the right idea.
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Government debt is passed on to future generations. You are not disconnected from the debt your nation has. So in essence all the fuck ups of today by our wonderful leaders(with our consent) is passed on to our children.
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But do you know if legally children inherit the debts of their parents? Does anybody in this thread know?
I don’t disagree about the governmental debt (although I do about making children carry this sort of posters) but I’m really interested in whether debt is inherited within families.
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Clarissa my wife is a lawyer. The answer is no a child does not inherit the debts of their parents.
However if the parents do have debts on their death then the creditors will be paid from the estate before the children get their inheritance. If the estate is not enough to cover the debt then this is just tough for the creditors and for the children who get no inheritance.
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Yes, I have heard this many times over the years. The national debt amounts to somewhat more than $30K per person; $15 trillion/$300 million is about $50K per person. This is not an unmanageable amount, but it would be lower if we raised taxes to a sane level. Keeping the Federal taxes so ridiculously low is a recipe for disaster. I only hope that President Obama vetoes any attempt to extend the Bush tax cuts beyond next year.
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Do you think he will go as far as a veto? Of course, I hope he does, but what are the chances? He is getting massive campaign contributions from Wall St. right now.
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Children do not inherit parents’ debts. However, the estate of a deceased person is liable for debts, so an inheritance will certainly be reduced by the amount of any outstanding debt. But it cannot be reduced below zero, as far as I know. I have known people who thought they were getting a sizeable inheritance and found that it was lower or non-existent because of this.
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Thank you for explaining this, David!
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David is right. Of course, this doesn’t stop unscrupulous debt-collectors from trying to confuse grieving children about their liability, scamming them out of money they do not owe.
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That’s exactly why I was asking the question. I’ve heard stories about people being pressured after their parent died. And in a horrible emotional state that follows such a huge loss some people find it hard to resist the pressure.
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My wife has a matter where this has happened. The scammer “repossessed” a car on which there was nothing owing.
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These scammers have no shame.
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Yes.
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Not quite on topic but since you tagged this post as Occupy Wall Street last night at 1 am police and sanitation workers swooped down on peaceful, law abiding campers and removed the Occupy London encampment in the first Canadian action to deal with the Occupy movement. You can see the operation here:
And read the Canadian Press story here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/11/09/occupy-london-ontario-police-eviction_n_1083387.html?1320839814
Spread the word. Toronto’s mayor, Ford also said that he is working on plans for Occupy Toronto and that the yurts represent a permanent encampment rather than a temporary situation (true). The authorities have underestimated the abilities of the movement to withstand the colder conditions (We`re Canadians! What the hell did you expect?) so now they`re trying more intrusive methods.
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This is horrible. What’s happening with Canada, exactly? Why shouldn’t people be able to protest peacefully?
As for withstanding the cold, these are, indeed, Canadians we are talking about. What’s a few frosts to us?
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Part of the problem has nothing to do with peaceful protests. In some of the camps there have been accounts of violence and other potential legal issues. This also does not take into account that they are basically “squatters” and take away the space from other members of our societies. Its not an easy situation for anyone but that doesnt mean the so called “occupiers” should have carte blanche to do as they please.
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Yup, I’ve seen other kids at other political rallies holding up signs like these. When I was that age, my penmanship was never that good, so two guesses as to who wrote it.
RE, the children inheriting debt thing: When my uncle died, money that he had saved up to pay for the care of his daughter, who has spina bifida and FAS and couldn’t live independently (she was about 16, approaching legal adulthood) was scooped away by collection agencies, which meant she was basically given the choice between living with a relative who steals her social security checks every month to pay for smokes and booze, or go into an institution, which are by and large hell on earth. So there’s plenty of ways for children to be affected by their parents’ debt after they die, even if it’s not directly paying out of pocket for the costs.
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