WASHINGTON — A new thrift commission has raised alarm about what it called a U.S. "culture of debt" and has issued a comprehensive report, Confronting The Culture of Debt, to address it.
The Commission on Thrift includes the National Federation of Community Development Credit Union, the Institute for American Values, the Institute for Advanced Studies In Culture, the New America Foundation, Public Agenda, Demos, and the Consumer Federation Of America, among others.
"Families are juggling high balances on a fistful of credit cards, raiding equity in their homes to pay for immediate needs, and putting their faith in the lottery as the only way to get ahead financially," the Commission wrote in an briefing about the report.
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"Teenagers and students are burdened with credit card and student debt before they start out in life. More than one out of three Americans today say they have felt their financial situation was out of control at some point, and about one in every seven families report that at some time in their lives, they experienced financial problems severe enough to have caused them to file for bankruptcy or use a credit consolidator," the report added.
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