Not if you've gots lotsa credit cards ... Just keep on borrowing and never mind the interest. Guys on this thread say it doesn't matter.
That, I totally agree with. There is no doubt that elimination of state usury laws in the 70s when inflation was rampant has allowed "financial" institutions to rape Americans with credit card interest rates well beyond Mafia rates has been a difference. The recent changes in bankruptcy laws will likely keep the true scofflaws under control and perhaps stop young financial illiterates (I have one child who is one and it cost me a lot to bail her out) and compulsive spenders from ruining their lives. While the bankruptcy law change was good, I'm strongly in favor of a return to usury laws, be it state or federal. Easy credit is not a good thing. Credit needs to be earned and sadly, some people need to be protected. It is unconsiencealbe what these credit card companies do to people.
But the point of my post was that if you look at the raw debt numbers without looking at other measures, the year 1946 would have seen the United States slip abruptly into 3rd world status. I haven't bothered to look at the relevant numbers, but I know that the national debt compared to GDP then was staggering compared to today. Instead of collapsing, we went on to what has been a 60 year nearly unbroken economic expansion.