To the editor:

The Journal-World recently opined that “credit should be a ‘privilege’ available to people who have a reasonable expectation of using it responsibly.” Implicit in the editorial is the assumption that substantial numbers of the indebted get there by buying things with no idea of how or when they might be able to pay for them.

An extensive study of personal bankruptcy filings belies that assumption. Behind almost all personal bankruptcies lie tragic misfortune and not the irresponsible use of credit. (“The Fragile Middle Class,” Yale Press.) For 65 percent, it is loss of jobs; for 40 percent, uninsured medical problems; for 20 percent, the economic fallout of divorces. For many it is a combination of all three.

The unemployed and uninsured are left to do what they must to survive, as are disintegrating families. That includes the use of credit to supply the essentials of life, not for profligate living. Those who don’t survive often end up in bankruptcy — not by choice, but by lack of choice. They aren’t “too big to fail” and don’t receive the billions lavished on Wall Street and its bonus babies.

For the last decade, 95 percent of credit card users have paid their balances. Unforeseeable calamities have kept the remaining few from doing so. During this time, credit card departments have consistently been leading profit centers for banks.

Why doesn’t the Journal-World print the names and addresses of the irresponsible million-dollar-bonus recipients, and quit naming and embarrassing those already burdened with bankruptcy?