There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own.

Get out of debt. In a world of stagnant incomes and rising core expenses like mortgage and health care costs, that's a lot easier said than done. The middle class is under enormous pressure. But families can stop the bleeding by reducing their reliance on debt wherever they can. They can also start fighting back by taking a hard look at whom they do business with and rethinking whether they want tricks-and-traps banks to hold their money. They can also demand that public officials take the side of families over the side of banks.

I talk to nurses and programmers, salespeople and firefighters - people who bust their tails every day. Not one of them - not one - stashes their money in the Cayman Islands to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

People feel like the system is rigged against them, and here is the painful part, they're right. The system is rigged.

Good for Warren Buffett that he can afford to do that! Some people, sometimes, need to finance a purchase or rent a car, and a credit card becomes a necessity.

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.

If you have a choice between buying something and paying down your credit card, pay down your credit card.