Who's to Blame?

There seems to be a movement afoot to place the blame for the coming debt reckoning in Canada on the doorstep of issuance of lines of credit, secured and unsecured. The perpetrators seem to be those making their dime on churn in real estate.

Lines of credit gone wild: Readers tell their stories

Canadians have gone from a standing start 20 years to owing $219 billion on lines of credit today. Credit line use is growing faster than mortgage debt and now accounts for 12 per cent of all consumer debt owed by Canadians.

Correlation and cause are not the same thing. Maybe, just maybe, people are taking on more unsecured debt in order to live under the excessive burden of their housing costs.