Both, in short, depended on a whole new attitude toward debt.

Half of that money would be used to pay off hospital and nursing home bonds; the rest would go toward general debt.

The surging popularity of the 15-year loan last year indicates that consumer attitude toward debt may already be changing.

Like the company's card that imposed fees on unused credit, the loan requirement was designed to test a person's attitude toward debt.

The money is not going toward debt.

At the same time, though, many consumers and banks have profoundly changed their attitudes toward borrowing and debt.

Get another job, a raise, a roommate - then sell anything that you can live without and put the profits toward debt.

Naturally, President and Congress immediately invented ways to get around it, so as not to impede the headlong race toward ever higher debt.

The budget also puts $2.8 billion toward future debt and expenses and a retirement trust fund for city workers.

Leveraged buyouts account for a minor portion of the shift toward debt in recent years.