WSJ: Feds crack down on credit card lenders

A front page story in this morning's Wall St. Journal reports on how regulators are cracking down on credit card lenders out of concerns that they have over-expanded their lending to more risky, sub-prime customers.

An effort to slow the growth of credit-card lending to high-risk consumers, while healthy for the economy in the long run, could damp consumer spending at a difficult time. Consumer spending has propped up the U.S. economy during its recent slowdown but has been accompanied by a rise in personal debt. In the last several weeks, makers and retailers of goods such as furniture and consumer electronics, along with consumer-entertainment venues such as amusement parks, have reported lower sales tied to worries about the economy and the stock market.