Michigan has been devestated finacially over the last couple decades -- jobs and money have just dried up as more manufacturing closes up and heads to China or Mexico.

So that great house you bought in 1989 when life was good and your had a great factory job --- now you're unemployed! Now you're competing for a lower wage job against tens of thousands of other laid off workers!

But the mortgage is still due every single month, isn't it?

The bank doesn't "care" why you're not working or what your hard luck story is. You pay or you die (well, not die so much as they just kick you and your family into the street)

"Why dontcha just sell yer house?" wonder the Republicans living in non-blue collar states.

Ever try to sell a house in a city that just laid of 5,000 people simultaneously in a state that is expericing a massive unemployment spike?

First, your house usually depreciates very quickly -- so you now owe more than what you can sell it for. None of the other laid off people are looking to buy. The market is over-saturated because everyone is desperately trying to sell and relocate out of Michigan (driving down your homes value even more). And most importantly no one wants to move to a crappy city where real estate values are plunging due to massive unemployment.

So you have no job, a mortgage you can't really afford and a house that literally no one will buy.

And, oops, little Timmy just broke his leg at school and you need to hand over $500 right NOW to pay for the Dr's visit.

You have $273 in checking to last the next 3 weeks.

But then there's that VISA card sitting in your wallet.

If people are racking up huge credit card debts then I can tell ya that they ain't taking month long vacations in Paris -- it's just to survive from month to month.

People always say, "It's all about personal responsibility!"

This is true but only up to a point.

If you have a great job for ten years and get a house with a mortgage payment of $1050.00 and your monthly income is $4200 -- are you foolish? No, of course not.

What if 5 years later the entire STATE experiences a massive loss in manufacturing and you loss your job?

Now you can't really afford that $1050.00 nor can you sell.

And at the same time gas went up 2 dollars from what it was 5 years ago? Healthcare premiums went from $200 a month to $450.

Are you "stupid"? Are you just "irresponsible"?

I'm just trying to figure out how exactly Americans caught is this trap of massive job losses AND massive cost of living increases are to blame.

Not seeing how any of this in really in their control.

Like the Great Depression.

Were those million of unemployed just lazy? Were they just financially stupid?

I think that since we're not actually in a full scale Great Depression than the assumption is that poverty most soley be the result of individual sin.

"Surely those people must have done something to bring this on themselves."

Did they?

That's what a small percentage of American don't quite get.

They think, "If you just do everything right then no harm will come to you. Only bad people who make a lot of mistake ever become poor. Good people will always be magically protected from harm."

Oh, if only that fairy tale were true!

You can do everything "right" -- and still get your ass handed to you and fall into debt.

Sudden job loss can wipe you out in months.

Medical illness that your "excellent" health insurance only pays a fraction of can wipe you out in months.

Parent/spouse/family member needs assisted living (not covered by insurance) and -- boom! -- you're toast.

There are so many things that can happen that can drive people into debt. It's not because 100 million people in this country are just "lazy" or "stupid" -- it's because even in America you can be devestated even if you do everything right.

I think our country needs to grow up, face reality and deal with the fact that, yeah, you can be a Saint and still be wiped out financially through circumstances you have little control over.

Is someone "entitled" to life saving chemotherapy?

Doesn't seem like a "luxury" item to me and yet medical bills are the number 1 reason cited as putting people into debt. Not big screen TV's, chemotherapy or some other medical expense.

If you want to address the root cause of what's is driving people into debt you must include medical bills as the prime culprit.

Second behind that you'll find stagnant/falling wages and the eliminating of company benefits and, of course, massive job loss through relocating to Mexico and China.

Third behind that you'll find the overall skyrocketing in the cost of living. No one is entitled to a house? I agree. But why the hell is the average rent on a 1 bedroom apartment in my city on par with a freaking mortgage payment??? Just getting basic shelter in the US is becoming a problem (a problem no one likes to talk about because it's easier to just assume everyone is "poor" because they bought all those designer gowns on their last month long vacation in Paris)

Fourth behind that is the rising fuel/utilities costs. Just paying the water/sewar bill and electric bill is putting a huge dent in people's paychecks.

Way, way, way down the list of things that are making people poor is "overspending on luxury goods."