I have recently had the privilege of watching the documentary In Debt We Trust by filmmaker Danny Schechter.  The film is different than Maxed Out in that it takes an in-depth look at the credit-lending scene.  It touches briefly on collectors but discusses credit cards, predatory lending, cash advance/payday lenders and more.  The filmmaker also queries users to ask the question if the next bubble to burst is going to be the credit industry, much like the mortgage industry is going through woes (as a result of the subprime/predatory mortgage lending market).  He didn’t present this concept in a doom and gloom the sky-is-falling way but instead as a question that consumers must ask themselves.
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In reading through some of my favorite personal finance blogs, I decided to do my own blog entry highlighting some of their articles today.

No Credit Needed 5 Rules of Spring Training (for your finances) - Fun entry and correlates personal finance to baseball’s spring training.  The five rules are:  Pitchers and Catchers Report First, Start Slowly, Go Somewhere Warm, Practice the Fundamentals and Have Fun.  A must-read. 
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As consumers across the United States are being affected by the housing crisis and the credit crunch, personal finance websites are noticing an upswing in traffic. Consumers are using Google as their financial counselor and looking for information on how to secure their personal financial future. Read on to learn more about the top five personal finance sites.
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Personal finance lessons…high school.  Wow, you don’t often see those two phrases together in the same sentence.  Times are certainly changing; in a recent article published WSB-TV Atlanta website, Georgia’s high school economics instruction has been rewritten to include personal finance lessons.  From the Action News 2 article:

“As a society, we need to do everything we can to increase financial literacy. The need to understand the range of products, mortgage and credit cards is so pressing.”

Kudos to the superintendent of schools in Georgia, Kathy Cox, for making this important change to the high school curriculum.  When students go to college they are often bombarded with credit card offers.  From banks next door to dormitories to credit card company tables on campus, credit card offers are abundant.  I remember my first credit card, a Bank One Visa student card with a limit of $500 of which I promptly took out a $400 cash advance so three of my friends and myself could fly to California for a football game.  Due to extenuating circumstances I didn’t get to go on the trip and amazingly none of my friends paid me back. 

I wasn’t a stupid person.  I was 18 and attending college on a full-ride academic scholarship.  What I didn’t have was street-smarts, those came later and after many, many mistakes.  I think that offering personal finance lessons in high school, combined with parental instruction, will set these students up for a more successful life.  Now I don’t think credit cards are the devil, I think they have a purpose and must be used wisely.  However, very few 18 year-olds are prepared for the cause and effect that credit cards come with.