Furthermore, it's not just that so many of us go into hock without much of a thought, it's what we go into hock for that makes me shake my head, much of it stuff that doesn't last. We've all heard about people who bought cars that fell apart before they'd even finished making the payments on them. It's the yoke of perpetual debt. Even when you're "done", you're not done. The idea of debt as a temporary state has only come back into vogue under extreme duress.
The personal solution is to get rid of whatever debts are dragging you down, and avoid taking on more if at all possible. If half the country did this, however, our "consumer economy" might look a lot sicker than it does now. (Sigh...remember when we were a producer economy, besides saving a bit more?)
