My observation of Europe is that: - a surprising number of businesses are cash only or strongly prefer cash - when they do take cards its the superior chip &

My observation of Europe is that: - a surprising number of businesses are cash only or strongly prefer cash - when they do take cards its the superior chip & pin system (though we've never had a problem with our crappy American cards) - Europe tends to have strong consumer protection laws in some ways - Credit is harder to get because of these laws In the U.S. building up and managing credit is a life skill that starts sometimes in high-school, but almost always by 18, usually with low-cap high-interest "starter cards". Most of the U.S. is virtually cashless at this point, I can start a month with $40 in my wallet and still easily have $30 in it by the end of the month. There are some places (and some milieus) where there are exceptions. But I've recently been on several long-term trips to wildly different parts of the U.S. and don't remember using cash except in very rare circumstances, usually as tips of some sort or to make very small purchases (gum). Credit development is strongly encouraged (for better or worse) and it's expected that everybody has at least one major credit card. The problem really comes in with lower income levels, credit is often used to buy things above the means of that level, creating a vicious cycle that traps people into long-term revolving debt, or playing a credit game of shifting the money around endlessly between cards and debtors. Consumer protection laws in the U.S. for this kind of thing are not very strong yet for a variety of stupid reasons.