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Credit card debt, less than $8 billion in 1968 (in current dollars), now exceeds $880 billion, more than tripling since 1988, adjusting for inflation, according to the Federal Reserve Bank. Penalty fees alone cost consumers $17.1 billion in 2006 - up from $12.8 billion in 2003, adjusted for inflation, according to R. K. Hammer, a bank card advisory firm. In part because of the debt burden, the consumer savings rate fell below zero percent in 2005 and has stayed there.

How can this be anything but unhealthy for the economy? And how many credit card offers do you think the industry sent out last year? 10 million? 100 million? Try: 8 BILLION! (up from 3.5 billion in 2000).

It's a sad state in this country when so many people are in debt and the savings rate runs at less than zero percent. Read the entire story, which focuses on one couples' struggle with managing their $20,000+ credit card debt.

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