amuricans labor under mountain o'debt

[junker]

cracks appearing everywhere in bushies 'boom'

HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com_|_Section: Business


Jan. 11, 2004, 7:12PM

Americans labor under crushing load of debt

Bankruptcies hit record level; savings rate continues to drop
By EILEEN ALT POWELL
Associated Press


NEW YORK — As the bills from holiday spending sprees arrive, Americans are finding that the mountain of debt they've built has gotten even higher.

Consumer debt has more than doubled in the past 10 years to record levels, making it hard for many families to cope.

For Bruce and Lorraine Esbensen of Clifton Heights, Pa., trouble started when they spent lavishly on their wedding six years ago. They soon found themselves falling behind on their bills.

"Creditors were calling, and I knew if I paid one,

[Dirty Hippie]

1. Here is a direct link

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/2346494

[cosmicaug]

3. An article cheerleading the economy.

Quoting the Houston Chronicle article:

"The Depression generation is passing on, and we're losing their values," said Howard Dvorkin, president of the nonprofit Consolidated Credit Counseling Services in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "Now we've got an entire generation that doesn't know anything about thrift and careful spending. It's tearing the fabric that made this country great."

So people now, more than ever, spend more money they don't have (which some consider a good thing because, hey, that's what keeps the economy going).

Here's an article cheerleading the economy from the last U.S. News and World report:

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/040112/biztech/12economy.htm

Quoting something that surprised me from the U.S News article:

The average family of four today spends about 21 percent less on clothes, 22 percent less on food, and 44 percent less on appliances--after inflation--than it did a generation ago, according to The Two-Income Trap by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi.

So it would seem that in this credit explosion that started a generation ago (I'm assuming a generation means 20 years) we are now going more deeply into debt than when it all started and we are spending less, rather than more, in absolute inflation adjusted terms to accomplish this. What's wrong with this picture? It would seem to indicate that we (those not part of a wealthy elite) are worse off that a generation ago (yeah, I know it doesn't exactly surprise many of you but it surprised me a bit to see it)

[Sir_Shrek]

2. I'm happy to have paid mine off.....

...completely (my "before 2003 ends" resolution, if you will). It's amazing how much extra cash you have whe do you have to send it to a creditor. It's not a huge pile, but it makes a difference.