Cars, toys, aspirin, meat, toasters, water - nearly every product sold has passed basic safety regulations well in advance of being marketed and sold. But consumer credit is a kind of buyer-beware, wild west. That is partly the result of history.

Nobody's safe. Health insurance? That didn't protect 1 million Americans who were financially ruined by illness or medical bills last year.

The people who are filing for bankruptcy in increasing numbers every year, it's not the poorest. It's not the people at the economic fringes. It's people who worked hard and played by the rules.

The credit card companies have put the loan sharks out of business.

The game is rigged to work for those who already have money and power.

[My grandkids] are 5, 10, and 15. While they're young and still at home, I think it's all about learning the value of money.

Pundits talk about 'populist rage' as a way to trivialize the anger and fear coursing through the middle class.