Pledge Drive Irony

The local public radio affiliates have been hitting the airwaves a week long pledge drive.  I'm an avid lister of all things in the public broadcast arena so I'm fine with WCPN and the like taking to the air to beg for money.  Although I did notice a hint of irony in the methods used to encourage pledges.

In a land saturated with cable blather the public airwaves are one of the last refuges of objective and informative news content.  In fact, NPR has done a great job chronicling the financial crisis with programs like Planet Money and This American Life.  

I was surprised to hear repeated pleas to go for the dollar a day pledge and stick it on your credit card if you want.  In fact, during one segment a women who described herself as an "unemployed worker"  attained the dollar a day threshold by way of the plastic.  On top of that the caller was on air with a financial adviser appearing to cross promote for the pledge drive.

I don't know what to make of people piling up credit card debt to acquire a little bit of intangible good.  Didn't using credit for conspicuous consumption became synonymous with this recent period of fiscal gluttony?  Perhaps we are returning to our senses after all.