Credit Problem in America

We have a serious credit problem in our nation. If you read or listen to the media you would think that this problem came out of nowhere. This is not the case. This problem has been going on for a number of years we are just at the point where we have to start changing the way we live. My grandparents generation were raised in or shortly after the deprection. They placed a high value on saving and spending money only when you had it. They did not upgrade houses and cars. They uesed credit only on extreme times. They saved more than enougth for retirement. Then the baby boomers generation came along. They were used to good things and did not first hand experience the bad times. Alot of them went to Vietnam and came back living for today not thinking about tomorrow. They have continued to rack up credit card debt, have upgraded houses, cars and most have very little savings. They also have not saved for very much for retirement. They major thing that is saving this generation is that they are inheriting money from their parents to help pay things off and help with retirement and also have tapped their equity in their house to continue their life-styles. This generation has also raised generation x that not only wants the nice things now but they expect to have them. This generation will not have the luxury of a huge inheritance because it will already be spent. Most will just be happy to not owe anything for their parents funerals. Generation X has grown up watching a waitress (Rachel from Friends) live in a nice apartment in new york always having nice clothes. This is not real life. You have to make choices and might not have enougth money for every thing you want. This creates bigger problems. Generation X (which I am part of) is a generation if it makes us happy then it must be ok and I don't care about the consequences. If you look at the statistics the number one reason for divorce has been money. Money creates stress on an already hard comittment. Look at the different generations ideas on money compared to the divorce rate. They seem to go hand in hand. We could be in a very serious problme come retirement time if we can even put money into a savings account but expect to live on it for 30 years, as we continue to live longer. Compound the fact that we don't know if Social Security will be around or how long we will have to wait to get the benefits that will probably not be as good as they are now. We as a nation have to stop they way we spend money and save and think about our future. I am not saying I have all the answers or how this will negatively affect the economy if we all cut back but we definelty need to rethink the way we spend money.