People allow this?

You know what bugs me about society as a whole? We're too willing and accepting of being screwed. There are certain systems that are set up where the customer has a distinct advantage. You might not think so, but think about how many times you've worked any retail store with a very generous, airtight, no hassle return policy to your benefit. But there are other industries and systems that are so heavily built on completely fucking the average person, yet we graciously accept it as if we should be so privileged as to be allowed to be fucked so hard.

Credit cards are one of the worst scourges ever to be brought to consumers in western society. 40 years ago, there was no such thing as credit cards, let alone the idea of a "credit rating" that affected most parts of your life and was inescapable, yet people still managed to do things like rent apartments, put a down payment on a house, or, you know, do anything. And your response to that might be "Times were different in the 1960's." And you'd be right. The economy wasn't in a near-depression, the national debt wasn't the highest in American history, and the average American didn't have several thousand dollars in credit card debt.

What's frustrating is that everyone knows what credit cards do; yet they all willingly line up to have more. Max out a card, get another one. Pay off your card just so you can fill it right back up. Get a new credit card to pay off other credit cards. Yet if you talk to the average person, they make excuses for it. "Well," they say, "if you're smart with your credit card, they can be enormously beneficial." This is true, but it is also true that you can form a healthy, mutually beneficial relationship with the mafia. You know, if you're "smart".

Making excuses for credit card companies doesn't make sense; especially considering just a little less than half the country has some form of credit card debt. "That's because people are stupid" might be your retort, but when credit cards have been obtainable to the mass consumer for around 30 years, and now half the country is indebted (and if you check your bills right now, I'll wager you'll discover that half isn't exclusively the stupid half), maybe it's not the people we should be blaming.