The problem with today's 20 year olds, they spend as if they've been working for 30 years. It's their own fault if they get themselves into debt.
20 year olds spend exactly as you would expect them to.
At that age, most of them have never had a job or if they did it was part time for walking around money while their parents covered the real expenses. Youth culture is largely the "bling bling" garbage as seen on MTV wherein the meaning of life is consuming. What actually paying for stuff entails is a new concept for them.
With no perception of what bills are like, credit is magic. For a trivial amount of money today, you can live large. Drive a new car no money down. Wear new clothes and go out to eat every night, $50 monthly minimum payment. Have all the latest electronics, no payments till 2006. And by the time you realize that that stuff wasn't free and now the bank owns you, it's too late.
The kids out spending beyond their means are certainly at fault, but there is plenty of blame left to go around.
First and foremost, the lending institutions. Offering a line of credit (with a 30% APR after the first late payment) to a 18 year old kid who has never even had a job is nothing less than offering a free first dose of heroin.
Next, the parents. You'd better be looking out for your kids and keeping them out of the debt trap, cause sure as hell noone else is.
And last, the public schools. In an ideal world the public schools would be teaching academic basics and not doing what should be the parents' jobs. But in the world we've got, where they own your kids 9 months a year from ages 5-18, it is unforgiveable that basic life skills like balancing a checkbook and an understanding of credit are completely neglected.
Today's 20 year olds expect to move out of mom & dad's house and into the same standard of living. It's not a reality for most.