It might be called the "World's Scariest Chart." It is a snapshot of the fragile foundations of the American economy and the epic boulder it now finds itself trapped beneath. The graph shows total debt outstanding in the United States, both secured and unsecured, as a percentage of GDP. In 1981 it was a manageable 168 percent, in 1996 253 percent, and by the first quarter of 2009 with the collapse of the housing and credit bubbles it had reached a staggering 373 percent of GDP.
Given that consumption makes up over 70 percent of the U.S. economy, the most worrying part of this huge debt burden is that of the household sector. In 1981, household debt as a percentage of GDP was 48 percent, in 1996 66 percent, and by 2009 it was nearly 97 percent. The last time the household debt to GDP ratio was near 1:1 was 1929. The average household credit card debt is $8,329. Undergraduates leave college with, on average, $27,803 in debt. One in four households is "underwater" on their mortgages, meaning they have negative equity.
LINK-LONG READ
"NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Regulators closed one large bank in Illinois on Friday in one of the biggest collapses of the year, while two other smaller failures pushed the 2009 total to 92.
In Illinois, 16 banks have failed so far this year, including Chicago-based Corus Bank, which was closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Friday.
Corus, which operated 11 branches, had deposits of about $7 billion and total assets of around $7 billion assets, the FDIC said."
Why aren't they getting the money back from these people who owe? They need to repo all possessions, and take from their paycheck. Nothing will get solved if this doesnt happen. This conversation will keep going for years and years, broken record.No you dont need a 10,000 sound system in your beater car. No you dont need a giraffe and dancing bears at your next office party. No you dont need the his and her refrigerator and washing machines.GET OVER IT!
ReplyDelete