I can feel sorry for them. I was lucky enough to be able to mature in a culture that only lent to the creditworthy. I'm in good shape, but looking around at this highly-leveraged home economy, I'm scared. And I'm mad as heck at the profligate lending practices.
By the time I qualified for credit, I was at least a grownup. That was when it was hard to get a department store credit card of any kind, and you really had to be established to get a bank credit card. Today--They seduce college kids into debt--kids who are legally of age but have no income!
And every other commercial on TV is another seduction into overspending and debt--I just saw one advertising "interest only" loans.
If i'd had all this "free money" dangled in front of me when I was young and inexperienced, I wonder if I might have fallen prey.
Banks need to return to lending only to the creditworthy. They are professionals, and should be held to professional standards.
Did you smoke weed, drop acid and drink booze like Teddy Kennedy when you were younger? Did you have sex at the drop of a hat, rack up abortions like it was a sport, and build up an immunity to all but the worst sexually transmitted diseases because you were exposed so often to them? Did you drop out of high school because it was "easier" to not go to school? If you went to college, did you blow off most of your classes and make Animal House look like reality?
I'm just going to guess that the answer is no. But a lot of folks did when they were "at that age". Kind of like the same folks that make the stupid decision to reach for the "free" money that dangles all around them today. There is a reason some people succeed in this country while others spend a lifetime digging themselves out of holes. I admire those who succeed. And I really don't feel sorry for those who make decisions that result in their failure. We were all young and stupid once.