Robert CaldwellWhat a debt hangover! $14 Trillion in debt
November 16th 2008 08:31
Well I was reading some articles over at CNBC and came across an article that showed just how far U.S. consumers over extended themselves in debt.
US Consumers Hit By Credit Crisis, And Everybody Pays
"Over the past decade, American households have piled on $8 trillion in debt, an increase of 137 percent, twice the gain seen in the size of the economy." How's that for over reaching your capacity to payback a loan?
One part really stuck out for me, "At $14 trillion, the debt load is now roughly equal to the entire economy's annual output." Holy smokes batman! You thought the U.S. government was bad. The article goes on to say most of that are mortgages but still. U.S. consumers would literally work all year just to pay off our debt.
That was just absolutely mind boggling to me and it also brought the credit crunch in perspective. People talk about how Americans spend too much and how we love plastic or how there was a housing bubble. These figures go to show just how much we have borrowed.
US Consumers Hit By Credit Crisis, And Everybody Pays
"Over the past decade, American households have piled on $8 trillion in debt, an increase of 137 percent, twice the gain seen in the size of the economy." How's that for over reaching your capacity to payback a loan?
One part really stuck out for me, "At $14 trillion, the debt load is now roughly equal to the entire economy's annual output." Holy smokes batman! You thought the U.S. government was bad. The article goes on to say most of that are mortgages but still. U.S. consumers would literally work all year just to pay off our debt.
That was just absolutely mind boggling to me and it also brought the credit crunch in perspective. People talk about how Americans spend too much and how we love plastic or how there was a housing bubble. These figures go to show just how much we have borrowed.
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Comment by Wynona Lavota
Generation Y Life
I'd like to see some regulations put in place, maybe scrapping sub-prime mortgages and/or a limit to how much one person can borrow... or something.
There you go, that's my highlly intelligent comment for today.
Comment by Robert Caldwell
Market Herald
Thanks for the comment!
Robert