Who controls the wealth in the US? Western countries expand balance sheets at the expense of their younger population.
If the debates reflected the true interest of what Americans have on their mind the entire debate would revolve around the slow erosion of the US middle class. Yet this is something that will only be a footnote and for any discussions that do come up the specifics will be lacking. The reality is we […]
Deleveraging from one bubble to another – $6.2 trillion in mortgage debt was added between 2000 and 2008. Since the peak in 2008 $1.3 trillion in US household debt is gone but another bubble is brewing hidden under the rubble of the busted housing market.
There is some interesting data on the deleveraging that is occurring with the American household. Since the peak in Q3 of 2008, US households have lowered their outstanding debt by $1.3 trillion. It is important to understand how this deleveraging is occurring. First of all, Americans are largely paying down existing debts much faster and […]
100 million credit card accounts are gone since 2008 – Credit card balances decline by 22 percent since their 2008 peak.
Credit cards have been used as a lifeline and a way to live beyond one’s means in the United States for many years. Yet the current environment of deleveraging is hitting credit cards hard. The outstanding balance on credit card debt has reached a level last seen over a decade ago. This is positive since […]
QE3 into infinity and stagflation – Federal Reserve now purchasing over 50 percent of MBS and planning on buying $40 billion per month into infinity.
The Federal Reserve is playing with financial fire here. The last employment report was terribly weak and no amount of spinning can make it good. The drop was largely based on hundreds of thousands of Americans dropping out of the labor force. Is that really a positive sign? Last week we received data from the […]