>>>Both ordinary peoples and governments are pushed one way or another to spend beyond their means, which leads us to massive world wide indebtedness.
>>>
>>>This implies that ordinary people are stupid and incapable of thinking for themselves. I would say that this is a pretty low opinion of ordinary people.
>>
>>They may be capable of such intellectual endeavor, but the mere existence of such massive debt shows the sellers of debt know well enough where the switch lies to turn that thinking off.
>
>why?

OK, how many people do you know who, when they take a loan, multiply the number of payments with the payment size, and thus know how much do they have to pay, grand total? How many of them subtract the amount they actually borrowed to see what the interest is? IMO, the first thing I want to know if I borrow is how much do I owe, and when is it due.

Why people would go for credit card debt, at the usurious rates, is beyond my power of imagination. I don't know these humans too well, it seems.