Another stat I’d really like to see is the MEDIAN outstanding credit card debt of those that hold credit cards. From the numbers above I think you’d agree that using the average debt tends to skew the picture a bit when trying to picture what level of credit card debt makes up the middle ground for the average (or should I say, median) individual.

23.8% of American households have no credit cards at all — no bank cards, no retail cards, nothing.

Another 31.2% of the households the Fed surveyed paid off their most recent credit card bills in full.

So together, the households that owed nothing on credit cards equaled 55% of the total.

I would be interested to see stats regarding income relative to debt.

“In 1745, the Catholic teaching on usury was expressed by Pope Benedict XIV in his VIX Pervenit, which strictly forbids the practice as such, although he adds that “entirely just and legitimate reasons arise to demand something over and above the amount due on the contract” – such reasons could include the risk of loss, the time value of money in the modern economy, etc.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usury

Besides that, you can also read regarding debtors prison:

“A debtor’s prison is a prison for people unable to pay a debt to another. Prior to the mid 19th century debtor’s prisons were a common way to deal with unpaid debt. In the United Kingdom, the Debtors Act of 1869 abolished imprisonment for debt (although debtors who had the means to pay their debt, but did not do so, could still be jailed for up to six weeks).”

The point I was trying to make in a historical context is that lending standards are now at the opposite end of the spectrum. Once they were morally wrong now they are seen as no big deal to a large part of the population. Even bankruptcy carries no social stigma. Banks even only a few years ago had to ensure that the mortgages they gave out had some chance to be repaid. 20 percent down was a good way to ensure this. Now with Mortgage Back Securities (MBS) they needn’t hold loans longer than a month.

Usury was illegal and the highest moral authority of the times (The Good Book) had specific prohibitions against it.

So what side are you on? Do you think debt is a crime? I don’t really believe you’re advocating public hangings here… are you?