May be true, but there again one has to know more about the comprehensive financial situation. My credit card has every single thing in my life on it. Why? Because I get frequent flier miles and I pay the bill in full and avoid charges anyway! Plus, it's very convenient. And at the end of the month I have a nice, complete record of everything I spent and where. Just read on msn money that checks are getting even more last century (new rules on processing, etc.). My point is that even though "necessities" may be on credit cards, that doesn't mean that people are needing loans to pay for necessities. It could just be convenience or some other incentive.
Obviously you're a responsible person. No argument on that -- but I do think a lot of people are having a hard time. No statistics to back it up, but a certain percentage probably got themselves into the jam and a certain percentage were victims of circumstance.