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

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

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...trillion-and-reaches-new-record-idUSKBN20521Z
https://www.foxbusiness.com/money/us-household-debt-new-record

This is one of the more obvious by-products of President Trump raising hell constantly for over a year with the Federal Reserve to crush interest rates down to zero (or below if he thought they'd do it). Just when interest rates were beginning to claw their way back toward a level that made financial common sense and responsibility, he DID THIS.

And the Fed DID crush interest rates back toward zero, THREE TIMES during 2019! Sure enough, Americans did exactly what we always do when the 'sugar-teat' of lots of easy credit is dangled under our noses -- WE JUMPED ON IT, and sunk deeper than ever into depths of personal debt never known before....

When the next 'recession' finally hits, it is going to make the minor 'inconveniences' of 2008 look like POPCORN FARTS by comparison....

 

Same problem as the other thread on this.

What exactly are you referring to? PERSONAL (ie, household) debt, or state debt?

 

Household debt is personal debt and that's what he's talking about.

 

But his comment referred to national debt. Two very different things.

 

No, he's talking about interest rates being low and people using that as an excuse to create more household debt.

 

Thanks. And yes, that's where the problem lies. Refusal to adjust to prevailing conditions.

 

US households climbed to 14 trillion in three years?

curious how much Of this is student debt that skyrocketed after the dems took over student loans?

 

I agree with you on this post, this is eventually going to come to a head, the good times will not last forever, then all that debt is going to bite us in the backside. Not sure if Trump or anybidy else is ready, but spending cuts must happen, but very slowly at first so as to not to shock the greater economic community.

 

Again, what are you discussing? PERSONAL debt (which is entirely discretional), or state debt?

 

Well, student loan debt totals 1.5 Trillion in 2019. So, 10% of the household total is student debt, "behind only mortgage debt - and higher than both credit cards and auto loans. WOW!


https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2019/02/25/student-loan-debt-statistics-2019/#55971c73133f

Student loan debt in 2019 is the highest ever.

The latest student loan debt statistics for 2019 show how serious the student loan debt crisis has become for borrowers across all demographics and age groups. There are 45 million borrowers who collectively owe more than $1.5 trillion in student loan debt in the U.S. Student loan debt is now the second highest consumer debt category - behind only mortgage debt - and higher than both credit cards and auto loans. Borrowers in the Class of 2017, on average, owe $28,650, according to the Institute for College Access and Success.

 

Granny says, "Dat's right...

... is `cause o' all dat money...

... dem politicians is spendin'...

... dat we ain't got!"

 

My wife wants to buy another house more centrally located. I keep telling her to wait. That 400k house she has her eye on is going to be half that within the next couple of years and we can pay cash.

Like a lot of Americans, I got caught with my pants down in 08'. I will not do that again.

 

Not to change topics, but felt I should take this opportunity to tell you that your signature is 100% incorrect...

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/tr...law-government-accountability-office-n1117031

 

And with that loan burden people aren't buying houses or new 50k cars. They're renting, living with their parents, or sharing a house. They are putting off getting married and having children as well. The American Dream is passing them by. And when the next recession hits it will put them even further behind.

This is what late stage capitalism looks like, and it ain't pretty.

 

Both.

 

Lately I’ve became an advocate of trying negative interest rates.
If Fed is willing to consider that possibility than current low positive rate is not such a big deal.

 

We need loan forgiveness!

A compassionate government would forgive all consumer loans! The people were tricked by the big banks!

 

"Household", i.e., personal debt, @crank .... Here's the graphic from inside one of the linked stories: It's not 'national debt', which by itself if MUCH higher....

 

How would negative interest rates help anything...? I've never heard anyone who advocates that (and they are very few) explain WHY they think it would have a beneficial effect on anything but extremely short-term sales.

It hasn't done Denmark, Sweden, or Japan any good. Do you want everyone to pull all their money out of savings accounts and start 'stuffing it into mattresses'...?

 

The Federal Reserve System combine used the creation of imaginary money and crushed interest rates to rescue the stock market, starting in August 2007. It was all mostly a gigantic 'fraud-balloon', but it did save those that these insiders at the Fed considered "too big to fail"....

The first mandatory step in fixing the overall mess as it stands now, on a national AND personal level is to completely rewrite the U.S. Tax Code to totally eliminate all tax shelters, tax loopholes, exclusions, exemptions, deductions, 'carried interest', and other near-criminal crap that always gives the really RICH a pathway to avoid, partially and sometimes FULLY ever paying what they should owe in taxes as a REAL percentage of income.

After that, we tightly control the money supply instead of flooding the entire world with worthless, imaginary dollars, and, we allow interest rates to come to a level that accurately reflects demand for credit. The rest would be fairly easy and quite intuitive....

But, as long as the Federal Reserve System combine remains in charge over everything of IMPORTANCE in the economy, none of this will ever happen. Besides, both rich Republicans AND Democrats don't WANT anything to change....

 

I think people are earning more money therefore can carry more debt. Not that I carry debt or would recommend one do so. So is that long term debt? I use my credit cards to the tune of several hundreds of dollars a month but pay them off, does that short term borrowing merely to facilitate purchases count as part of that debt?

 

Is it the result of more households or is per capita?

 

It is just a cumulative dollar amount -- an 'amassed' dollar amount, if you will. It's just sheer 'tonnage' as far as I know and has nothing to do with numbers of households, per se. One household may have tens of thousands of dollars of debt, and right next door, the next household may not owe anybody a penny....

But the KIND of debt varies quite a lot as you see below....

Here's a better, more comprehensive graph, which is only tracking 'totals' of different kinds of household/personal debt...
Link: https://www.statista.com/chart/19955/household-debt-balance-in-the-united-states/ ---

 

Student loans are a discretionary purchase, so not really reflective of the economy. But it is fascinating to watch the train wreck unfold - all those kids who thought Gender Studies would somehow translate to an income, bless 'em

 

It's not 'late stage capitalism', it's late stage hubris - brought on by the decay of humility, work ethic, and family.