Good post, Sharky.
As for credit, I can only speak of our situation, but we do not have any credit cards. We did, we ended up using them to live outside of our means, we ended up in approx. $6,000 in debt, and we paid them off and cut them up. We have one single card left and it is literally only in the event of an emergency and only to use when every other availble option has been put on the table and discarded.
I think a lot of the issues with credit cards (not really talking about college loans here) is that people use them to fulfill wishes and desires and wants, specifically those that they otherwise cannot afford. And then they end up in debt. And then they want someone else to step in and save them.
Having been there, I can honestly say it was nobody's fault but our own and we did not expect to be "saved."
My husband bought a truck we could not afford. We sold it. We took a loss, a big loss, but it was better to pay $5,000 to get rid of it than end up in bankrupty court screwing everyone and hurting ourselves because the $750 monthly payments killed us.
We did NOT buy a house we could not afford. We understood that it was OUR job to research loans, interest rates, all the terminology involved, and despite being approved for a $210,000 home, we bought one at $128,000.
At some point, people need to be held accountable for their own actions. No one else made someone do something they did not want to do.