So, here's the body count you won't find anywhere else and it may surprise you:

In 2008 there were 176.8 million American "general use" credit cardholders (Amex, Visa, MasterCard, Discover).

By the end of 2009, that same category of credit cardholders decreased 7.4% to 164.7 million.

Today, only about 156.7 million people are credit cardholders.

This last year 8 million Americans deserted credit cards. They are no longer cardholders; that's right they don't have a one! BTW, having 3.5 pieces of general use plastic is the average.