Money - CASH money

I would like to present the following question to the internet community: who was it who decided it's a good idea for all of us to live our lives in debt? Anyone???

On the face of it, credit is a great thing. "Don't have the money right now? Want to pay in installments over time? Have a steady job - or not? Let us finance that for you!" Thanks, anonymous internet money-giver!

What I don't understand is the level of comfort most people seem to have now with living their entire lives indebted to others. I myself have a significant amount of student loan debt, that I'm now living at home working more than full time to try to pay off. Most homeowners have mortages that they don't expect to pay off before they kick off, or if the mortgage is paid off, they get a REVERSE mortgage to cover their living expenses while they're not working.

Am I the only one who thinks this is totally nuts? Maybe I'm just twitchy about it, but when I see a balance on a credit card or loan it feels like I'm -$$ against life. And what kind of young work force spends its first 10 years on the job paying off its education? How many more questions could I possibly put in this post???

I guess what I'm saying is, it shouldn't be so expensive for intelligent people to get a quality education - it shouldn't be a crippling financial experience for them or their families. Also, I think large amounts of credit card debt are totally stupid - just look at how much money you're making and live on it...there's no reason to go the movies on VISA's dime.

I'm not asking for college to be free, and I certainly don't expect everyone to be financially responsible, but there has to be some other way to live, folks. Suggestions?