About 8 million Americans stopped using credit cards in 2010 and the average credit-card balance has fallen 10 percent this year. While deleveraging seems like good news, it could be hurting the economy:
This occurs when economic actors on all sides–consumers, business, government–all retire their debts at once. Unless their incomes are rising, they can pay off debt only by cutting what they spend. This, in turn, reduces the demand for goods and services, which drives prices down, further trimming businesses' revenue and thus their ability to pay employees, who in consequence spend less.
The Dish 
