I just called my brother, the mortgage broker, to get to the bottom of this credit card debt story. He got his information ($8K) from an industry rag, but when pressed, he conceded his industry has every incentive to be uncritical about these numbers: their biggest customers are people refinancing their mortgages to pay off these debts and these figures are a strong marketing point. He says his own customers average about $20k of CC debt, and some are as high as 60 or 80K, but this is a selection effect; these are precisely the people most likely to be seeking out his services. He dutifully warns them that this debt does not disappear, it's just spread out over a longer time and lower interest rate, but many of them call him back a few years later, after accumulating additional CC debt. In today's finance market, this spells doom for them. The money tap has gone dry.

I still don't know what the average CC debt is for American consumers (neither does he), but I do apologize for shooting from the hip on this one. I'm still waiting for my computer to get fixed, and I have to use the old lady's, so I haven't got the time to do much research.

I still stand by my original statement though, people have no one to blame but themselves for getting into this bind. It is understandable getting into this kind of unwise debt because of a genuine emergency, but if you get trapped this way because you're buying luxury items and toys, it's no one's fault but your own.