While I agree that debt is a major problem, I think another significant problem, perhaps just as significant, is the lack of savings, or more specifically, the lack of interest bearing savings options. This is a side-effect of low interest rates that is almost never talked about. The average person used to have access to savings vehicles like money markets and CDs which paid decent interest rates. But with the continual suppression of interest rates by the Fed, those options are useless. The average person has no low-risk options to save money. Instead, they have little choice but to turn to the stock market, or real estate market, and put their savings at great risk. It seems every few years there is a major crash, which wipes away those savings. This leads to less savings, and less savings balance. When you combine toxic levels of debt with non-existent savings levels, you have a recipe for disaster.