Not so long ago the financial world viewed certain numbers as limits beyond which lay trouble. Interest rates near zero, for instance, were thought to risk destabilizing the banking system. And government fiscal deficits above 3% were considered so dangerous that exceeding this level was prohibited by the Maastricht treaty that all eurozone members were […]
Is Anybody NOT Deeper In Debt?
The New York Federal Reserve just announced that older Americans are carrying more debt than ever before and, believe it or not, spins this as a good thing: New York Fed Finds Large Increase in Debts Held by Those Over Age 50 (NASDAQ) – Americans in their 50s, 60s and 70s are carrying unprecedented amounts […]
Screwed By The System, With No End In Sight
Bloomberg just cited some stats that validate the average American’s sense of being ripped off: Here’s How Much QE Helped Wall Street Steamroll Main Street Wall Street is counting its winnings from seven years of easy money. In a report sent to clients on Sunday, Bank of America Corp. strategists totted up the results of […]
If Debt Was The Problem…
Confounded Interest just posted a nice summary of a McKinsey report on the growth of global debt during what some persist in calling the “great deleveraging.” Turns out that since the crisis of 2008, debt has actually risen by $57 trillion, and the ratio of debt to GDP is up 17 percentage points to 286%. […]
Debt Makes You Dumb, Part 2: Borrowing Just To Get By
As incomes stagnate and prices rise, a growing number of Americans face a tough choice: either descend a couple of rungs on the lifestyle ladder or borrow to keep it together. Many are apparently choosing door number two. From MarketWatch: Americans are getting into debt to afford food, gasNowhere has the unequal nature of the […]
Debt Makes You Dumb, Japanese Edition
Debt works the same way for countries as for families and individuals. That is, if you borrow too much, your life begins to suck. And actions that in normal times might have seemed unwise, contradictory or downright stupid begin to look better than the (even more disturbing) alternatives. Pretend, for example, that you are Japan. […]