I agree, you haven't convincingly made the case that credit is more akin to drugs than a restaurant or a bra store (the 1:1000 statistic in particular is suspec

I agree, you haven't convincingly made the case that credit is more akin to drugs than a restaurant or a bra store (the 1:1000 statistic in particular is suspect), and it seems your entire point depends on that case being true. Restaurants and bra stores, for example, also want to keep customers hooked. Does that make restaurants & bra stores predatory? Neither they nor credit card companies are forcing their customers to spend more than they can afford.