Doesn't anyone else think this is wrong??

For weeks now, I've been listening to Henry Paulson and others make the case for pouring billions of dollars in credit markets. They justify the outrageous dollar amounts by saying it's necessary in order to make credit more readily available so that people can meet their everyday needs.

Meet their everyday needs?
So we're dumping hundreds of billions of dollars into the finance markets so that I can buy my groceries with a credit card? So that I can finance that flat screen TV that I just HAVE to have?

Am I the only one who thinks our focus is completely wrong? Am I the only one who thinks this is a huge mistake? We're propping up an economy that, for decades, has encouraged people to live outside their means. Don't look at the cost of an item, just look at the monthly payment. Don't save up and pay cash... why wait... buy it now. Can't afford a house payment? Get an interest-only loan. Don't worry about what the payments will be in a year or two.. just get into a house now... worry about the higher payments later.

We've gotten lazy, and greedy and irresponsible and Congress is rewarding us with multi-billion dollar programs that will ensure our ability to continue being lazy and greedy and irresponsible.

I know, I know... there are exceptions. There are people who have lost jobs and wouldn't have made it if they hadn't had a credit card to use for groceries and gas. But it's exactly that, an exception. Most of the borrowing that's been done in this country has been done by people who could have saved up money and paid cash, or by people who were buying things they didn't really need anyway. But we have to have the latest and greatest of everything don't we. And now that we can't get it, we're mad. We're mad at the greedy people on Wall Street who created sub-prime mortgages and made credit cards so easy to get. We're mad at Congress for the deregulation that allowed sub-prime mortgages and easy credit.

Why aren't we mad at ourselves? Why aren't we mad at ourselves for going along w/the sub-prime market, easy credit and purchases of things we couldn't afford and didn't need? Why aren't we responsible for following along? Banks and finance companies only continued with their practices because there was a market for them.

And why are we now just quietly following along, again... as our hard-earned money is used to stave off the effects of greed, selfishness and impatience? We're seeing the bottom fall out, not on an economy, but on an ideology. An ideology that says we can't survive without credit. An ideology that says we're not gonna make it if we can't put Christmas on a credit card because a) we're not self-controlled enough to save money and b) we think Christmas isn't Christmas unless the tree is overrun with fancy, high-priced, unnecessary gadgets.

Have we really not awoken to the dangers of financing a lifestyle? Have we really not learned to think long-term? Have we learned nothing? And do we really think it's all someone else's fault?