I haven't owned a television in over a decade. Throwing the thing in the trash immediately innoculates you from advertising.
I don't know if it's a consequence of living life with no television or not, but I haven't gone in debt for a helluva long time either except for a small mortgage on my house. I mostly paid cash for that purchase as well though (keeping the amount I could've used to pay the whole thing in order to renovate it). If I were to want a car, I would pay cash. I can't see paying another man interest unless it is absolutely necessary. (Absolutely necessary = my wife needs an operation in order to keep living, not keeping up with the Joneses)
On university campuses, desks are set up on registration day to sign up 18-yr-old kids with no income for multiple credit cards.
Freedom is full of perils.
I do not agree that we should change our courts to accommodate what amounts to loan sharking. If an institution lends money to people it knows likely can't pay it back, it not only shouldn't get our help in bankruptcy court, it oughta land 'em in jail. It's fraud--to the borrower, and to the stockholders of the bank, and to the banking public.