The latest fiscal buzzword is a real thriller: “Zombie Banks.” All this scary phrase needs is a secondary title, something like, “The Economy of the Living Dead.”

So-called zombie banks are financial institutions now on the federal dole. Without taxpayer support, they would collapse. Instead, they exist between the private and public worlds, neither alive nor dead, just zombies, stumbling around aimlessly for sustenance.

Opinions are everywhere about what to do about them. Some believe nationalization is the key to reanimating these banks’ lending prowess, putting the federal government into the role of Dr. Frankenstein to throw the switch. Others think letting them expire is the best policy.

Maybe that’s the Dr. Kevorkian role. Either way, the decision is frightening to consider.

Because not only are many lenders living in stasis, but most consumers are as well. In our credit culture, which not only tolerated but encouraged borrowing beyond rational repayment, the recession/credit crunch has zombified our spending anew, at least until we can afford the old.

In other words, we are finally paying our debts, which is the worst thing for the economy.

The average American has credit card debt of about $5,700, according to TransUnion, a credit card-rating agency. Yet delinquencies decreased in late 2008, as consumer spending dropped for its sixth month and consumer saving increased to its 14-year high, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

The Wall Street Journal, on March 9, said it this way: “Is the financial crisis making us better at paying bills?” That remains to be seen. What it is doing, it seems, is making consumers with debt – that is most of them – more responsible, timely and proactive.

While this is good for consumers in the long run, by reducing debt and improving credit scores, such diligent repayment (after such a long period of largess) drags down the economy. Extra money that once went into consumption is now paying for that consumption.

So, as a nation, we’re catching up, not moving forward.

Credit card companies don’t help. Byzantine rules and tyrannical approaches to cardholders – unexpected rate changes, credit line cuts, minimum payment hikes – make using them unpredictable and therefore dangerous. And those that offer credit relief are a dicey mixture of the reputable and the shady.

Will Lund, of the Maine Consumer Credit Protection Bureau, warned recently about the minefield that is the credit-card rescue business. No creditor needs to take less than they’re owed, and those that sell such a result are doing so on proverbial credit as well.

So is a bailout needed for zombie consumers, then?

Reuters reports American consumers owe $800 billion on their credit cards. Forgiving or refinancing this debt (and perhaps education debt, too), along the same lines as mortgages might reanimate consumer spending needed to jolt the economy.

At one time, this may have sounded outrageous.

But that was before we became a nation of zombies.