What’s truly changed is people’s attitude to debt. It’s no longer shameful

I wouldn’t say that.

I would say its the attitude of *defaulting* on debt that’s no longer shameful.

People have absolutely no qualms about maxing out their HELOC’s and CC’s, then tossing the keys and declaring bankruptcy.

This is why the downturn is going to be much longer and the credit squeeze much tighter than most think. Nobody is going to get second jobs or stretch their budgets to repay debt. They will just default, en masse’.

Declaring bankruptcy due to excessive consumer consumption is the most shameful I can imagine, personally. I have no problem with throwing these deadbeats in debtor prisons for the rest of their lives.