Once again, credit card delinquencies have reached another peak. U.S. families are finding themselves deeper and deeper in personal debt, and yet they are encouraged to keep on spending to "help the economy." It's faulty logic: spiraling debt ultimately helps no one, but don't look to Washington for any wisdom on the subject: federal spending, too, is out of control.

So what's to blame? A culture of spending, mostly, but part of the equation also rests on the messages from the media (which is supported by advertisers, of course, and simply must pound home the "buy more" message in order to keep ad revenues flowing) and the ridiculous urgings from Washington to keep on spending, regardless of your present financial situation.

But there will be consequences. At both the personal and federal level, we are in serious need of debt counseling and restructuring. The entire nation, it seems, needs an education on the downside of out of control spending, and we need to start sending messages that saving money is OK, too.

Spending may be good for the economy in the near term, but a burden of debt crushes economic growth in the long term. Too bad we have few national leaders who can see past the next election.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58394-2004Jan6.html