Credit card companies going crazy! WTF?!

[BluYrs]

Looking from across the pond, I have to wonder...

If banks start charging more for credit cards (basically you using their money), wouldn't it make sense to switch your consumer behaviour around? So instead of going through your next paycheck by using a credit card, why not use the money you have from your last paycheck? You wouldn't have to cut back on spending- if anything you'd have a few extra bucks which would have gone to pay off the credit.

Of course, this is based on the presumption that you don't spend more than you earn and that you have the ability to save a bit for unforeseeable expenses. Could it be that this presumption is not correct and that's why so many people have to resort to frequently using a credit card?

I admit that this is a much wider topic and also involves differences in long-time consumer behaviour between the US and the EU, but I have to wonder if the credit card has become a basic necessity. Dammit, I got all Carrie Bradshaw there, sorry...