oh, credit. I always wondered why our economy is in the hole

Over the recent years, debt has become increasingly common among the people of the United States. With the societal standards set so high and telling us to keep buying more, Americans are sinking more and more into debt. What we used to want we now need and our constant growing and changing needs are paid for by credit cards. As people sink further into financial debt, their lives start to deteriorate, as seen in the film Maxed Out. Many people were hit with depression, and some committed suicide. Most people so far into credit card debt see bankruptcy as their only way out, and get rid of their debt and start anew. But who pays for all of that? Our nation bails people out, it hurts our whole economy. And other, responsible, tax-paying citizens shovel out money to bail out our economy and our nation. This credit card debt needs to stop.
Credit card companies and banks are in the business to make money. They are not there to help us make money. They will give loans to people they know cannot pay them off, they will give credit cards with exceedingly high limits to unemployed college students, and they will exploit the poor unsuspecting middle class citizen. While the government has passed laws since, Providia used to hold and/or shred checks so that people would default on their credit and have to pay more.
One thing that we have to keep in mind is our economy. When we all have no money and all that is circulating is this fake, unbacked piece of plastic, our nation will fail. Our economy needs to be boosted back up, and the government is trying all of these things that are simply not working. Although we are technically not in a recession, we will be soon if we don’t fix our economy. Most historians believe that credit was the cause of the Great Depression, and we could easily sink back into another Depression if we don’t fix our economy. One comedian in the film Maxed Out said that “they take money from the poor and give it to the rich,” and that after a credit card company called him to tell him he only had $20, they took $15 simply because he didn’t have very much. This is not how our economy should work. The purpose of government should be to serve its people, the poor and the rich, and work to give everyone a better and higher living standard, not to widen the gap even further.
With Barack Obama as our new president, we really need to decide what we're going to do with our economy. Mr. Obama, will you fix it? Or will you just blame every problem on Bush like you've been doing this entire election?