For the longest time, I was puzzled why everyone had such strong feelings about credit cards, until I realized that people used them as credit cards, ie. to get money they didn't have. I guess because I had always thought of them and used them as a substitute for paying cash that I had (and I still do), it never occurred to me that they were anything different than writing a check from your bank.
Now, I see that credit card debt, and debt in general is crushing our society. This is a serious problem.
I also have heard that because so many people are taking out home equity loans (and some are even using credit cards to pay the debt on those!), there is an impending real estate crisis in this country.