These days, it seems, everyone is in the red.

The national debt limit Congress allows has been raised four times since 2001, and two months after last hiking the debt ceiling, lawmakers are poised again to max out the government's proverbial credit card.

Shelby County government is in debt to the tune of about $2 billion, which is equal to the 2005 net income of auto giant Ford Motor Co. Memphis's municipal debt is about the same - and, as an aside that's indicative of the city's financial situation, Memphis mayor Willie Herenton is confident he'll be able to rely on a re-election campaign fund that has at least as much money in it as the city's reserve fund ($1.2 million). Naturally, individual consumers aren't faring much better. Credit cards - those small, innocuous slices of plastic that high-powered celebrities are now pitching in elaborate TV commercials - are being swiped at cash registers at a rate that keeps climbing.

That's one reason the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Tennessee is trying a new approach in educating people about the dangers of unchecked borrowing and spending.

Let's get a grip, people

It's something called the Credit Abuse Resistance Education or CARE program that's billed as an innovative financial literacy effort by the local bankruptcy establishment to make sure people don't get into dire straits in the first place. The target audience is the same demographic that credit card companies also target because of its huge sum of disposable income: high school juniors, seniors and college freshmen.

"I've actually had some high school teachers tell me that most of their students have more credit cards than they do," said David Kennedy, chief bankruptcy judge for the Western District of Tennessee.

Kelley Rousseau, an administrative analyst with the local bankruptcy court, said the hour-long program includes a PowerPoint presentation and a question-and-answer session that usually covers everything from interest rates to credit reports. She's also the court's point person for CARE.

Through the educational program, local bankruptcy professionals are asking any school or organization that's interested to let them know, and they'll show up to give their presentation about the pitfalls of debt.

"It was started in 2002 by a Judge John Ninfo in Rochester, N.Y.," Rousseau said. "It's just been a program that he's been passionate about, and I think he's reached about 10,000 students in the New York area with it. It's now branched out, and the program is currently in 31 states. We're just trying to get it up and running here."

Sharing is CAREing

About a year ago this month, the chief judge in the federal bankruptcy court in San Diego introduced the CARE program there. He and others in the bankruptcy establishment made a presentation in May 2005 to about 450 high school students at University City High School.

Meanwhile, credit card companies are continuing to ratchet up their marketing efforts. Malco Theatres in Memphis, for example, has recently begun running - along with the commercials that now precede movie previews - a credit card ad that has the feel of an art-house movie short. The two-minute spot features director Wes Anderson of "Rushmore" and "The Royal Tenenbaums" fame and a colorful cast of characters bustling throughout a movie set.

Anderson ambles along behind the scenes, correcting actors and asking for prop mock-ups. At one point, he's told that the film production can't afford a $15,000 helicopter shot. Out comes Anderson's wallet, with which he offers to pay for the shot and asks his assistant to keep the receipt.

"In our view, the fundamental change of the last 10 years has been the way credit is marketed to consumers," reads a letter signed by about 100 law professors that was sent to Congress last year. They were responding to the imminent passage of a stringent update to the nation's bankruptcy laws.

First come, first served

While the local bankruptcy establishment doesn't have any star power it can harness to compensate for the elaborate credit card campaigns, Rousseau said its members are following a strategy of their own in reaching young people: namely, getting to them first.

"This is just about trying to make them aware of wants versus needs, creating a budget - just being financially smart," she said, adding that one program already was held earlier this month at the Grizzlies Academy, an alternative high school Downtown.

Volunteer speakers such as trustees, attorneys and judges like Kennedy attend the events to pass along advice. Left unspoken is the fact that, though professionals like Kennedy are passionate about talking to students, they hope not to see the students again, at least in the bankruptcy courtrooms in which they operate each day.

"It's been said the age group under 25 is the fastest-growing group of bankruptcy filers, and that's scary," Kennedy said.