Originally Posted by Old Dad
Average credit card debt: $15,270
Average mortgage debt: $149,925
Average student loan debt: $32,258

If that's not people getting things they can't yet afford I don't know how else I can possibly convince you.

I agree about the student loan debt; I think that part of the point of this thread addresses that question.

(CC debt is OT, but, average debt is driven up by a small number of people who have very high debt; I'd like to see the median and the SD (if the distribution is normal? Dunno.). More importantly, a large chunk of credit card debt is medical bills and other basic expenses like rent and food. For example, this story in the NY Times breaks it down. The idea that CC debt is exclusively (or even mostly) about buying luxury goods is a myth.)

I don't think that yoking students to large debt is healthy for the nation as a whole. IMO, the easy availability of credit is an important factor driving up college costs (they raise tuition because the loans will just poof the money into existence and the loan won't even go away if the student dies). At the same time, tightening the requirements for getting a loan is also bad, because the poor and lower middle class students will be shut out. IMO, the solution is to cut the costs and make college affordable to people who work a summer job and maybe a part-time job during term (though I'd prefer that everyone could study without working more than ~10 hours per week so that they can focus on, you know, studying.). You know, like things mostly were in the 80s or so and earlier.