At one point, this film uses old footage from a 50's documentary on credit in which the narrator lists "character" as an essential characteristic for the responsible credit holder.<br /><br />One can only imagine that the film's creator is lampooning this idea as old fashioned, since nowhere in this production is there a hint that personal irresponsibility has played a role in the downfall of all the "victims" depicted herein.<br /><br />Not that the predatory lending the film details hasn't transformed the financial landscape of middle class America in the last 40 years--it certainly has--to its immense detriment. And the sham piety of credit card company reps testifying before Congress is more than a little sickening.<br /><br />Certainly one can shake one's head at the misfortune associated with college student's being given credit, for which they are neither psychologically nor fiscally prepared.<br /><br />But what are we to make of a middle aged woman, living in a large exurban subdivision home, who elected to pay her mortgage payments with credit upon the death of her husband? Nowhere is the question posed, (nor evidently entertained at the time) as to whether it was time to downsize into a domicile consonant with her income. Maybe she had ample reasons for doing what she did, fully justifiable reasons, but these we never learn...<br /><br />This genuinely heart rending example, and a tragedy involving another woman--this time, a suicide resulting from a gambling addiction, inevitably recall the "character" issues raised in this movie's spoofy use of the old 50's film clip.<br /><br />Then there's the lady professor from Harvard who assures us throughout that the country has been forced to embrace credit card debt in order to survive--prices being what they are today. (This attestation coming moments after witnessing the construction of a Las Vegas home with two (count em) washing machines and dryers is vaguely disconcerting.) Not that inflation is the only culprit. Oh no, for this we need to wait for the closing reels, in order to view the villain, (or villains) behind the curtain.<br /><br />And then, of course, we find out who the real crooks are, (besides the credit card companies). You guessed it! President Bush, (both of them), and the late President Ronald Reagan. And Michael Moore isn't even listed in the credits ! (Predictably, "Katrina" is also shoehorned into the narrative for good measure.) One wonders why the film's blame doesn't extend to LBJ since Bank AmericaCard was introduced during his Administration.<br /><br />If we are honest, we can certainly emphasize and recognize our collective weaknesses and tendencies to greed in each and all of the people the film depicts. And no small number of us probably shake our heads and say, "There but for the grace of God go I." But spending money you don't possess still has moral connotations--and unfortunately for this movie's audience, personal ethics have no place in the propagandistic world of commercialized victim hood.<br /><br />In any case, the book is much better than the movie.