Have we learned the lesson yet?

There are many articles that note with the economic downturn that household debt has been greatly reduced. And the hope is that we have learned our lesson well and cut the debt cord.

But have we? It looks like that hope is a bit premature...

http://moneyland.time.com/2012/01/12/in-november-we-racked-up-5-6-billion-more-credit-card-debt/

So on Black Friday retailers were thrilled to report consumers spent an unexpected $52 billion (with a "b"). Unfortunately, consumer borrowing surged $20.4 billion (also with a "b") in November - the highest month-over-month increase in a decade! Of the borrowing, $5.6 billion ("b" again) was on credit cards.

Maybe rather than cut the cord, we need to cut the cards!

I listened to an NPR interview discussing why we use debt for purchases. The person being interviewed felt two reasons at least included immediacy (not having to wait) and relativity (adding $100 to a $3,000 balance seems relatively small and therefore causes little concern).

The interview also discussed a new trend in credit card marketing called virtue cards - where instead of cash back or other incentives, a portion of the spending was donated to charity. This made people feel a little less selfish about their consumerism?

The Time article credited some of the credit card spending to a wave of 0% offers promoted by credit card issuers.

I guess the point is (and it sort of covers weeks 3 - 6 in FPU):

1) Wake up
2) Make a plan (budget)
3) Quit using debt (cut up the cards)
4) Be aware of and defend against the impact of marketing on your buying decisions