The Next Bubble Is on the Way: Credit Card Debt

[marmar]

from CommonDreams:



Published on Monday, August 11, 2008 by CommonDreams.org
The Next Bubble Is on the Way: Credit Card Debt
Why Are We All Complicit in Our Own Economic Servitude?

by Danny Schechter



Let me try a few words out on you: “Charge It,” “Swipe It” and “Priceless.”

You know exactly what I am talking about. We all have credit and debit cards. We all use them, and many of us keep our lives going because of them.

That is, until the bill becomes due.

The sad truth is that we are all complicit in our own economic servitude even if, at bottom, it’s not our fault because we live in a consumption society, and don’t feel we could live without them.

While many eyes are focusing on the housing meltdown and its hugely negative effect on an economy clearly moving into recession, few are paying attention to the next bubble expected to burst: credit cards. You would never know it by watching those slick VISA card ads on the Olympic TV broadcasts.

Combined with the subprime losses, such a credit card nightmare has the potential, experts say, of bringing down the entire financial system and global economy.

You and your credit card have become key players in the highly unstable financial crunch. Mortgage lender cupidity and bank credit card greed wedded to financial institution deregulation supported by both political parties, have been made manifestly worse by Bush administration support-the-rich policies. It has brought us to a brink not seen since just before the Great Depression.

While campaigning in Edinburg, Texas, in February, Barack Obama met with students at the University of Texas-Pan American. “Just be careful about those credit cards, all right? Don’t eat out as much,” he said. After the foreclosure crisis, he warned, “the credit cards are next in line.” .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/11/10921/