Credit is not leading to the downfall of society, but it is drastically and negatively changing our society. Individual debt has been increasing steadily in the United States, and its drawbacks are being seen heavily now in the ill tempered stock market as a result of sub-prime lending in the housing industry.

These days it is pretty much accepted that the majority of America does not have liquid cash at their disposal so everything is on credit: cars, homes, new appliances, computers and even mattresses. These are all things for which the average American takes out loans for or gets financed through the store at which they buy them, and that does not even go into credit card dept for which ordering a pizza is actually putting you deeper into unmanageable debt.

We have a slew of complex financial options and traps but no one is instructed in their use (unless they specifically seek to be so). I have one credit card and never maintain a balance on it because I know that if that balance begins to build the chances of me getting in over my head with interest rates is very dangerous, but not everyone realizes just how slippery this slope is.

So, to stay out of debt we make an investment (that accrues more debt) in college. Student loans are, for the less fortunate of us, the only way that we can go to college. I had a couple scholarships, grants, three jobs and 20K in loans that I am still paying back. My level of education, undergraduate in biochemistry, got me a job where I made the same amount as a friend of mine who dropped out of high school and manages an Arby's! My friend is debt free and I am indentured to my creditors.

Do not misconstrue what I'm saying here; I believe that higher education is a wonderful thing and everyone should have access to it, but the greed of lenders has gotten out of control. The more access people have to credit, the more our economy is driven by that credit. This is terrifying because our economy is thus based on money people don't have. As every generation gets deeper in dept there will eventually be a breaking point were there is not enough money going into our economy and far to much coming out.

The spending habits of our country are also running wild. Many people I know set aside a budget for things they don't need. They buy luxuries such as expensive cable T.V. packages and they actually reason to themselves that this is necessary. In the meantime they are not paying off their Visa bill. To some of you these

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