I do not claim credit card debt is smarter than a mortgage. I claim it is a far smaller percentage of personal debt. For example, reducing housing cost by a fe

I do not claim credit card debt is smarter than a mortgage. I claim it is a far smaller percentage of personal debt. For example, reducing housing cost by a few percent would have a vastly greater effect than reducing any other source of debt by the same percent. If a person is in debt, it's not primarily because they bought a latte, it's because housing cost are high. So if we're looking at debt per se, then it's housing we should be looking look at.