I would agree - Americans on the whole do carry a lot of debt. But the reality is, you can't get a credit card or a bank loan if you don't have a job.
Totally untrue. My friends wife is foreign. Is a house wife. Has never worked a day in the US in the last 2 years. She recieves credit card offers constantly. My daughter has recieved credit card offers, she's 9. Students get credit cards all the time, most of them do not work (university). The banks don't mind, their losses are insured by the Fed, again that big government and corporate welfare.