U.S. household debt tops $14 TRILLION and reaches new record

Also, a student loan is easily repaid by a 'trade' type degree in a high demand field. That debt is only going to be a problem if you were silly enough to borrow on a vanity (ie, an arts/humanities degree). If you did that, you have no business crying poor.

 

Wow. The $259 I owe on my credit card seems kinda paltry.

 

Right, so it's discretional debt. This is basically a naughty chart.

 

Let me just borrow a million (for discretional indulgence of muh vanities, of course) first

 

But they're two entirely different things.

 

Oh, even way back when I was an undergrad I used to watch other young people waste years of their lives, while pissing away a LOT of money, majoring in silly crap that was more useful in 'coffee-table talk' while smoking a joint than it was in earning a good living!

Unless you go on to get a Ph.D, with the idea of teaching this stuff in some other college, of what possible use is a degree in Sociology, or Psychology, or 'modern art', or 'Black Studies', or any other form of "basket-weaving"...?

. "Yeh, but I got a lot more puzzy than the dudes that majored in Electrical Engineering -- ha, ha!"

 

Thank you for the chart. It looks like student loans and mortgages are increasing while credit card debt is the same. More college students and more home ownership is very good for the economy. Home equity lines of credit are decreasing.

Thank you for sharing this good news!

 

Borrowing money is not a horrible thing if what you are borrowing on will make you money and you can realistically afford the payments. Even if your house is underwater financially speaking if you did not over buy and can afford the payments it is unpleasant but doable. From what I saw in the housing bubble was people using their house as a financial tool and people kept rolling into larger more expensive homes that they could only afford with unrealistic increases in home prices. How anyone thought that was a good idea, I do not know. But those that were in house that they could afford and stayed living in have now for the most part recovered. And those out their who are being hit by huge credit card debt for most part got there with poor use of their credit. If you can not pay off the balance at the end of the month then you have no business buying it. Just because your limit is 25k does not mean you need to hit it and you should most definitely not get more card because you are limited out on the one that you have.

 

No kidding, but they each can have a devastating effect on the economy when their respective bubbles burst.

 

If someone is willing to take on more debt than they can afford, that's on them. You can't blame the government for "luring " people into enslavement by debt. I'm also ready for some interest increases. My mortgage is locked in @ 2.75% and I have no other debts. It would be nice to see a greater yield on my investments. The blame should be on the people who borrowed their way into desperate dependence on low interest rates.

If you're upset with Trump over limiting the return on your investments with low interest rates, I agree. Let's let the rates gradually go up.

 

Personal debt is never a good thing, even though it is unavoidable in some circumstances for some kinds of purchases -- like a house, and, maybe, for personal transportation (although buying a car on credit while taking anything more than 24 months to pay it off is incredibly stupid). Some people borrow money to get an education... but smarter people simply 'gut-up' and work their way through college....

Debt is a very real, addictive form of SLAVERY! And guess who is encouraging even MORE debt with near-zero interest DEBT...?

.So...why bother saving money? You can always BORROW more!

 

I agree with you 100%.

The first casualties of 'the Great Recession' were stock market gamblers who make risky bets, and, more generally, people we used to call "house-flippers".

The 'flippers' did very well up until about summer of 2007 -- and then their little world started to cave-in on them. But, the Big Dogs -- the mega-buck boys? Well... the Federal Reserve combine decided that they were too big to fail, and they had to be rescued! So, we had QEI, QEII, QEIII, "Operation Twist", and now?

Since a bunch of other stock market gamblers got into another 'liquidity' series of 'overnight' blunders last September, there was the advent of the "Repo Crisis". But, here came the Fed, riding once again to the rescue -- and it's been pumping even more billions of dollars into the economy to save this new bunch of clowns, while crushing interest rates that people get on their savings accounts -- eleven years after the end of the last recession! They don't want anybody to call it "QE4", but that's exactly what it really is!

Link: https://markets.businessinsider.com...t-not-calm-liquidity-fears-2019-10-1028643549

 

The funny thing is that when I was at university, you COULD actually get by with a 'Bachelor of Arts'. Govt hired loads of 'em every year, just for starters. The problem is that today's parents think it's still the case .. because it was for them. They're not for a moment stopping to consider how the economy and work environments have changed in 30 years - and this, from parents who are in no financial position to feed and house their adult kids indefinitely. You'd THINK that if you can't afford to keep your kids forever, you'd make damned sure they're educated to the point of self-sufficiency.

PS: the electrical engineer will get far more, in 2020

 

Some still did very well beyond 2007 though - it was really only the bad players who crashed. And there were far too many of those in the game.

Flipping houses is not a game of money + enthusiasm, it's a DESIGN game. When you put non-design people with very lowbrow aesthetics, with no concept of architecture, into something as contingent upon those things, AND on borrowed money, you get disaster. People with literally no exposure to (or interest in) design and architecture, have no business in the game. They will always fail. Those who do it properly because they're either designers or architects, survive.

 

I have watched several of these "very lowbrow" people with ratty concepts of "aesthetics", "architecture", and just about everything else make LOTS of money in crappy houses -- mainly by buying them on credit, and then getting them made into government-subsidized "Section 8" rentals. One guy in particular had eleven such 'houses' in really sh!tty parts of town. The last time I saw him, and he and his wife were 'living large' as a result!

But the genuine "house flippers" I'm recalling from about 2003 - 2007 were probably among those you remember, too. They'd spend half their time moving from one house to another (always bigger and better), and the other half of the time looking for the next house and figuring out some scam so that they could 'qualify' for that house which was FAR more valuable than anything they could afford, based on their real income.

They whined like dogs freezing in a sleet-storm when their little joy ride finally ended, and then they and the rest of the weepy bottom-feeders voted in "Messiah" Obama in 2008, lost their houses, and lived off unemployment and a smorgasbord of government welfare handouts for the next eight years....

 

They keep making it easier and easier to go into debt, and the old adage is still true:

Fools and their money are soon parted.

When that credit card offer comes in the mail what you got to see in your mind's eye is a carnival barker.

 

Not to change topics but I am going to change topics.

I always wonder what people mean when they say **** like that. It's a phony way of saying, "Don't mind me while I do something that I said I am not going to do."

 

The weekend seminars offered on TV commercials here put a metaphoric thousand more house flipping players in the game everyday in this country, just like day trader seminars.

Only 22% who enter the game make money day trading. I don't know what per cent it is for house flipping.

If you've really found that big vein of gold do you go tell everybody, or do you hoard it for yourself hoping never to be discovered?

If there's ever any easy money in life it's a temporary serendipity that will soon disappear like all the money and panners in Skagway.

 

No, this is what government interfering with capitalism looks like. The Dept. of Education's direct Federal loan program provides Billions in student loans thereby insuring that the law of supply and demand does not work with respect to tuition costs.

 

Because of the economy, I was able to buy another (5th) house this winter, adding to my debt. Taking full advantage of the renters market for sure!

 

Lol...And yet, you and your repub buds will keep voting for the dotard and the repub cucks in the Senate who let him skate at his impeachment trial and try to keep him in office so he can finish ruining the US.
You people are unbelievable. You've thrown the US under the bus to suck at the teat of a demagogue's lies and hate. I do believe that trump and his supporters have broken America.

 

I dunno, Socialogists can top out over 140k a year. Psychiatry can get you up to 200k a year. The other ones, yeah for sure

 

Unfortunately, now it appears certain that the Federal Reserve central bank (acting in collusion with other central banks around the world) will use the Coronavirus as an excuse to slash peoples' savings account interest rates to the bone -- again!

FAR more people die in the U. S. due to common, 'ordinary' flu virus than the Coronavirus -- which so far has not caused ONE SINGLE DEATH IN THE UNITED STATES! Nevertheless, just wait -- when the Fed meets in a month (in March) I'd bet nearly anything that they'll hack another quarter-point off interest rates -- or more.

When you mash all the bullshit out of it, slashing interest rates and pouring billions more new, imaginary dollars into things like the recent "Repo Crisis" are the only things the Fed can do to keep this gigantic 'fraud balloon' they created in 2008 from crashing back down to the ground of REALITY. And if this horribly overvalued stock market comes shooting back down to realistic valuations it's going be like a icy 'Gatorade bath' for a lot of investors -- but not because of victory....

. "Oh, Sh!t... is it too late to call my broker?!"

 

OK -- so, show us someone BETTER than Trump for citizens who work for what they get in life, and who have earned what they have! I'm not in 'love' with Donald Trump, although I voted for him in 2016 and may be forced to do it again this year. Go ahead -- show us just ONE Democrat who would be better for what I call "the Rational Middle-Class". If you've got anybody, bring that person out where we can see him or her....

Yeah, if you get a Ph.D, and if you cultivate the right 'connections' at one of the lib-infested colleges or universities, you can make a pile of money... and with 'tenure' you can be a total garden-slug and never face of the possibility of losing your job....

Psychiatry is a BIT more involved.... For one thing, you have to have become a full-fledged physician first. THAT involves a hell of a lot of time, effort, and mentality.

The other possibility is getting some other kind of cushy government job, of course. For whatever reason, we have LOTS of these kinds of people on civil-service, government payrolls....

 

Here is a good read on how student loans drive up tuition costs.

To me this is the punchline from the linked Forbes article: And a 2014 analysis found that for-profit colleges eligible for federal student aid charged tuition 78% higher than that of similar but aid-ineligible institutions.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/presto...-student-loans-drive-up-tuition/#5103eb3c52b6