Unfortunately, many today are not
able to live below their means without sacrificing
food,
shelter, adequate
health care,
transportation, or other essentials. They are then
forced into
serfdom, whether by losing a
job, having an
illness in the family that requires
medical care, an unusually
cold winter or high
heating oil prices which lead to increased
heating costs, or simple
chronic inadequacy of
income. Rather than give up
feeding their
children or somesuch, it's common to use a
credit card or even more nasty
car title loans and
paycheck loans, which lead into an even nastier
spiral of
debt and
poverty.
The charging of interest is an essentially unChristian practice that goes against the moral foundation of our society (the original meaning of usury is "interest"), so it's not surprising that it's so commonplace. (Ah damn, there I go being cynical again...) We need to get rid of the usurers—as well as the economic conditions that drive people to them.
Forgive the softlink to male genital mutilation below... That was a big oops on my part.