Economy Shock

A Rasmussen Report

The card made me do it, or so most Americans say.

Eighty-three percent (83%) of adults say credit cards tempt people to buy things they cannot afford, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Only eight percent (8%) disagree with that assessment. Another nine percent (9%) are not sure.

These results are nearly identical to those found during the holiday shopping season in December of last year.

Slightly more women than men believe credit cards tempt individuals into spending beyond their means.

Still, only 20% of adults say they do not have any credit cards, but that’s down five points from last December.

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Twenty-three percent (23%) say they have only one credit card, while another 19% say they have two. Just over one year ago, 34% reported having either one or two credit cards.

Thirty-six percent (36%) of adults report having at least three credit cards, including 18% who have more than three. At the end of last year, 38% said they had at least three cards.

More women (82%) than men (73%) report having at least one credit card. One-out-of-four men (25%) does not have a credit card.

Americans may be opting to hold fewer credit cards these days since 50% say interest rates on their cards have been raised in the past six months, as Congress seeks to limit the ability of banks to raise those rates.

Twenty-four percent (24%) of Americans also say they personally need to cut back on their use of credit cards and other borrowing.

Most Americans (57%) say there is a need for more government oversight of the credit card industry. But a Rasmussen video report shows that 50% worry that it will be harder for people to get approved for credit cards if Congress requires banks to reduce interest rates.

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A Carpe Diem Post

1. "Bill Belichick Is Great" by Steven Levitt

I respect Bill Belichick more today than I ever have. This decision may have hurt his chances for the Football Hall of Fame, but it guarantees his induction into the Freakonomics Hall of Fame.

2. "Bill Belichick as Frederic Bastiat"

It’s pretty evident that the degree of opposition to Belichick’s decision amongst the sports public and even so-called football experts is disproportionately high compared to the true probability that Belichick’s decision would fail. In fact, a few statistical geeks have even suggested that Belichick made the correct decision under the criterion that head coaches are supposed to use: maximize the probability of your team winning.
The type of response we see to Coach Belichick’s decision is too often what we also see in public policy debates: there is a bias for what is seen versus what is not seen.

Update (Wall Street Journal): Somehow in American football, the punt—a clear and unambiguous symbol of surrender and retreat—has become the hallmark of sensible coaching.
Brian Burke, a statistician who has studied the results of fourth-down situations in the NFL, says a team in the Patriots’ situation had a 79% chance of winning by going for it (either by converting the fourth-and-two or stopping the opponent thereafter). That compares favorably to a 70% probability of preventing a foe from driving down the field for a touchdown following a punt.

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