I think you have a good basis for your argument. Debt gets out of hand very easily. I got two credit cards between the age of 19 and 22 - thank god the card I got at 19 only had a $500 limit because that was maxed and stayed maxed for a very long time. I mean, don't get me wrong, I made my payments regularly and so on - even when I lost my job and had no employment for several months, and I was very proud of the fact that I managed to make all those payments (still am) - but when you have, say, a $2,500 limit card, it does feel like you have just a little extra cash lying around and you can "splurge." Suddenly a week of splurging becomes $500 or more on a card - I am not great at going from one extreme to another, so "a splurge just for today" becomes "I'm used to spending extra money" - similar problems with food - and then before you know it both your cards are nearly at their limit, or whatever.

This is especially hard when you are especially young, although the CARD Act should help with some of this.

There are other ways to have a good credit score, but few are as simple as maintaining a credit card, if you have the ability and financial responsbility to do so.