Rising consumer debt can be seen as an increase in consumer confidence. Defaults are another story. The economic environment is about as good as it can get.

Rising consumer debt can be seen as an increase in consumer confidence. Defaults are another story. The economic environment is about as good as it can get. But people's attitudes towards money (and borrowing, and spending) are largely orthogonal. I expect as older generations die off and younger ones enter the spending economy we'll see more likelihood to borrow and spend. This will continue until the current generation gets badly burned (when the economy eventually peters out), then there will be a new generation with an attitude of frugality.