These are some good reports to start understanding how Americans got themselves into this debt problem.
What Americans Pay For - and How'Information Age' Bills Keep Piling Up
February 7, 2007
http://pewsocialtrends.org/pubs/407/what-americans-pay-for---and-how
Inside the Middle Class: Bad Times Hit the Good Life
April 9, 2008
http://pewsocialtrends.org/pubs/706/middle-class-poll
We Try Hard. We Fall Short. Americans Assess Their Saving Habits
January 24, 2007
http://pewsocialtrends.org/pubs/325/we-try-hard-we-fall-short-americans-assess-their-saving-habits