Your story is an exception, Doric, not the standard. And that's another misconception about CC debt. Yes a lot of people try to live richer than they are just to keep up appearances with their friends, but a lot more people, especially these days, have to rely on their credit cards just to make ends meet. They're not living fancy lives or driving expensive cars or going out every weekend. Or any weekend for that matter. They're buying groceries and paying their monthly rent and utilities with them and making the minimum payments, because whatever cash they do make each month doesn't stretch to the end of the month. I know several people who have had to live on their credit cards because they can't find work and don't qualify for unemployment. And there are far more people who don't qualify for it than those who do. I know a guy right now who's almost 50 and got fired last year after working for the same company for 25 years. Not due to any fault of his own, just due to his company "restructuring" - aka getting rid of the guys that are close to retirement. His unemployment has been denied 3 times and since he doesn't have kids he doesn't get food stamps. And if you don't have credit cards and you're in that situation, good luck. You better learn how to sell dope or ass. Sure, there are other ways to make money without a regular job, but that requires a lot of planning, usually having or obtaining new skills pretty quick, and some form of initial cash investment. $25 might as well be $25,000 when you don't have enough in your pocket to buy a tv dinner.

If you live in a unionized state or if you worked for a union for several years, then it may (or may not) be a bit easier for you, but most of the US is not unionized, and in those that are the unions are shrinking for various reasons. It's good to have SS to rely on, but I'm 40 so SS is not an option for me, and by the time I reach 65 (if I make it that far) the age for receiving SS will have been pushed much further up, if it even exists at all by that point. So I don't even think about it, as the likelihood of it ever being an option for me is virtually non-existent at this point. Just more money the feds have stolen from my generation and those coming after mine. Very few are anywhere close to being successful. Most people my age are just trying to survive month to month. It's easier when you have a working spouse because that potentially doubles your monthly income, and with kids you have a bunch of tax credits and benefits. For a single person it's virtually impossible to survive. We pay higher taxes because we're looked at as having more "disposable" income by the tax codes than someone who's raising a family. Very much not the case at all.

I've been working since I was 15, I've never had the luxury of working for a company that provided health care. Always had to pay a premium and have never been able to afford the premium so I went without. Auto insurance is much more important cause I have to be able to drive in order to get to or find work. A.C.A. doesn't exist in my state and is entirely unaffordable for me, at over $600/mo. min. for a single man.