Last week, I wrote my theory that the steep rise in credit card use was due to people replacing their home equity ATM with credit cards. 

Today, I read another perspective on Market Ticker, namely that the 468,000 newly unemployed are replacing their paychecks with their credit cards.

Combine both, and it's a bad downward spiral:  consumers are turning to credit cards because they have reduced access to home equity, and are making up for lost paychecks.  When was the last time the US consumer powered the economy based on his income growth and savings?  Haven't we relied on debt to fuel our spending for too long now?

This bodes ill for the housing market.  People without jobs are adding to the glut of homes, and are not out looking for homes to buy.  More homes in inventory, fewer sales.