We only need to live on credit untill Obama is elected then everything wil be oky doky.

once Consumers start defaulting on credit card debt (maybe 4% of consumers like foreclosures) then the Democrats will start bashing the "evil credit card companies" who extended credit to people who couldn't afford it just so they could default and ruin their credit ratings and be forced to use payday lenders. It's clear as a bell how this thing goes. Don't you know the American citizen can't handle responsibility anymore? Why, they can't be expected to pay for healthcare,rising mortgage payments or retirement! The Government needs to handle all of that.
Just to be fair: I'm sure the Republicans will come through with a plan to bail out the credit card companies to prevent a "banking/credit meltdown" and the taxpayer will get stuck with the bill.
Meanwhile, the money I'm saving for retirement is worth less every day thanks to runaway inflation. Consumers may as well spend and not save - why save worthless paper?

From the headline, I thought the DesNews was, for once, relevantly criticizing FED economic policy - no such luck. Inflation's sole cause is expansion of the money supply - credit, in other words.

In our quest for ever larger cars and trucks, homes and toys, we've moved over the past 50 years from a cash-based, saving society to a consumer-spending, credit-driven society, where almost no one can buy a car, much less a home without going into debt for 5 to 40 years. Government and business have the same mindset and profit each in their own way from massive interest income raised on the backs of consumers. They won't help us change that course. Only individuals and families, dedicated to it can transition from consumers and spenders to producers and savers.

The government is worse than the citizens. They borrow non-existent money - poof we as a nation are deeper in debt. Is it any wonder that your average person thinks they can do the same?

The biggest cause of inflation is the stupid Federal gov't expanding the money supply. Next are stupid policies like ethanol, price supports and controls, etc. If we can ever get them to stop meddling in the economy we might get ourselves out of this mess.

It would help if the government would put away their own checkbook every time things look dicey. But no politician is ever going to try that. Easier to buy votes than to earn them.