Consumer Credit Crunch

Bob Reich has an interesting theory about the continuing stock market cataclysm: the market has now realized that people aren't able to pay off their credit card bills, which means a second pillar of our national fantasy--first mortgages, now plastic--is crumbling.

It seems to me that one excellent point that Sarah Palin made in the vice presidential debate was that people needed to be more responsible about maxing out on their credit cards. This was unique in her history on the national stage, to be sure: a moment that not only was coherent, but also apt.