It is relying on consumers to "spend" their way out of the recession.

With all the cooked numbers that are put out pre-elections, and the fact that we are in trouble financially, I find it astounding that yesterday's front page states that the government "often encouraged consumers to pay off debt instead of incurring more".

So how do we spend our way out while paying off debt?

Household debt is 76% of take-home pay. This allows for very little manoeuvring to pay off debt.

With such high debt, most South Africans are living on their credit cards.

If you want proof, observe the next time you go to a fast-food outlet and see all the people using credit cards.

They are not using them because of some lame rewards programme; they are living on them.

So how do we encourage consumers to pay off debt instead of incurring more?

I agree with the headline yesterday "No Santa this year". More and more people are getting deeper and deeper in debt and there is no real plan for the economy to grow so people can prosper.

People, immediately quit using your credit cards.

Here's the test; when you received your credit card you were going to pay it off in full at the end of the month. Do you still pay it in full?

Admitting there's a problem is the beginning of curing the problem.

As Jeremy Mansfield said when I was on his radio show, "We are financial alcoholics."

It's going to get much tougher. Start now and prevent more pain. - JC, by e-mail

DEAR Mr President,

While I walked the aisles of the supermarket this morning, I was saddened to see empty shelves - a result of the transport strike.

I am sure you don't shop for your own groceries, so you won't see it; you don't drive your own vehicles so you don't have to visit several filling stations to get fuel. Your life goes on, uninterrupted. You are not inconvenienced at all.

However, many South Africans, like me, wonder what you would like us to tell our children?

We live in a growing culture where certain workers demand massive wage increases and then strike if they do not get their way.

I believe everyone has the right to a decent wage, but not an unreasonable one.

Tell me, Mr President, do you not care?