Is it true that Americans are in debt because they are fiscally irresponsible, or is it because the playing field is tilted?
It is hard for me to believe that 33% of all Americans can't grasp the idea of "spend less than you make". Sure, a lot of it is consumer culture / media pressure, etc. But other countries have the same sort of culture and lack our level of credit card debt. Could it be that the field is tilted -- e.g. wages are simply at a level that does not allow the average person to save much even if they try, meaning that as soon as they hit a financial bump (job loss, non-insured surgery, car repair) they are in debt and the interest rates on the card spiral?
This is not a conspiracy theory -- I don't think there is a literal collection of people in a room saying "how do we stick it to them this week?" -- but I do think that many economic actors (credit card companies, credit bureaus, major retail stores, etc) act in their own self-interest to continue this situation.
I've seen bits and pieces that support this theory, but I lack the economic and political background to tell if this is right or not. Can anyone point me at good sources?