Sage advice ...

... perhaps: Neither A Lender Nor A Borrower Be.(Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

I say "perhaps" because, after all, the advice was proffered by Polonius, an officious fool if ever there was one. I have always been fairly insouciant when it comes to money. A rather Micawber-like tendency on my part, I fear. But, so far at least, things seemed to have turned out pretty well. I have a few more years to pay on my mortgage (fixed rate, modest monthly payment), but otherwise no debt. Only moments ago I paid off my monthly credit card bill, which I always do in plenty of time in order to avoid having to pay any interest. But my natural optimism has been shaken a bit lately and I suspect Dr. Dalrymple is correct in this: "The future, it seems, depends upon the dishonest and the improvident. This is not altogether reassuring, at least in the abstract, until one considers the behaviour of the class from whom the candidates usually emerge. It takes a thief to elect a thief; and in the imperfect sublunary world, perhaps that is the best to which we can aspire."
I believe this is the result of our schools having been turned from educational institutions into training centers. Education, as Albert Jay Nock pointed out, focuses intelligence on the formation of character. Training is purely instrumental; it provides instruction in how to perform some operation or other without reference to the character of the performer. As Nock notes, you can train monkeys to pick fruit. Which may explain why the media have become a sort Bander-log.