That's the name of this article by consumer reporter Michelle Singletary. Here are excepts:
Outstanding consumer revolving debt — mostly credit card debt — hit an all-time peak of $1.021 trillion in June, according to the Federal Reserve. This should be a scary statistic. The last time the debt level was nearly this high was in 2008, when the U.S. economy was mired in a recession.* * * Here’s what we learned during the Great Recession. People had what they thought was a reasonable amount of obligations. They were making their auto and mortgage payments. They used credit to buy stuff to fill up those homes, eat out more or take vacations. It all seemed manageable — until life happened: The housing market imploded, and unemployment spiked. The illusion that people could get whatever they wanted — on credit — was shattered.
