B-
No, my sense of personal responsibility is not limited to the male of the species, it's just easier in the case of pregnancy, for him to avoid it, as a woman dumb enough to let a guy stick an unrubbered penis into her when she doesn't want to get pregnant is going to be stuck with addressing the consequences one way or another whether she wants to be or not. I was limiting my example to fiscal responsibility.
Lots of people don't know the first thing about how the credit card industry works. Because at no point in their lives are they taught how to handle money. We focus obsessively on 'readin' ritin' and 'rithmatic (all well and good) but I see a real dearth in education's attempts to teach things kids will really need as grownups. Those of us who were fortunate enough to grow up in middle-class households with parents who had middle-class parents who had the time to explain these things to us had a leg up, but it had nothing to do with personal responsibility and everything to do with being a member of the Lucky Sperm Club, as it were (a name I usually reserve for the hereditary wealthy, but face it, as Americans most of us are members of the Lucky Sperm Club compared to the majority of the world, especially if we're Caucasian, too). I've had to explain the difference between a savings and a money market account to friends with Master's Degrees. It's not easy, especially if you didn't learn it young.
When it comes to the credit card industry, I have nothing but unkind feelings for the business- I see those tables out at college campuses every fall, nabbing every kid who stops for more than ten seconds, none of whom have any idea how to manage their credit because A) they're 18 and B) no one has taught them this. Then they run up debt and spend the rest of their lives trying to dig out from under it. I read about how they target the elderly, whose comprehension skills are already declining, due to age. They are bad news, as most loan sharks are. Hell, I pay off my balance every single month. You know what the credit card industry's term for people like me is? "Deadbeat." Thanks. Thanks a lot.
But do you think the credit card industry would support educating its consumers? The same industry that targets people who have declared bankruptcy with credit card offers (the other fun story my friend has to tell about her experience with debt- getting bombarded by offers from Visa, etc., AFTER they filed). Please. They want people not to understand because then people will continue to give them record profits. It's deceptive and it's wrong.
Personal responsibility is well and good, but it needs to start from a level playing field, at least where information is concerned. This industry is doing everything it can to keep Americans dumb and indebted.
Apologies- yes, deregulation did start under Carter's administration (he has to work with a Republican Senate, yes?
) and continued through Reagan's culminating in the lovely Savings and Loan scandal (remember that one?) which resulted in all of us paying for rich people's taking advantage of an idealogical belief in unregulated capitalism. Reagan presided over the largest tax hike in the last years of his Presidency, remember?