rehctub,

I don't know that it is just "some" people. We now have the highest household debt in the Western world. It seems to come from the me,me,me self-indulgence that occurs when people are led to believe that they no longer need to take any responsibility for themselves. We do live in an age of entitlement (and I did not get that from the clownish Joe Hockey who thinks everybody is as rich as he is), but from experience.

Another problem apart from the pop psychology, that has people believing that all their problems lie in the past, is that governments actually encourage people to go into debt, and they set a very poor example with their own borrowing.

how bad can the nanny state become. Far more damage done by Bill's party in racking up massive debt than silly people who are taught to spend before they have. Why waste more tax payer money on this? May be if Bill's party sets an example in a little responsibility then his followers might so the same.

runner, the economy depends on spending money. Most of the money wouldn't even exist had it not been created by borrowing.

Our current economic problems aren't the result of borrowing too much, but too little.

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ttbn, would you regard someone who can't pay off their credit card completely every month, but can pay it down, as living beyond their means? And if so, why do you regard that as a bad thing?