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$19,100,000,000,000: Americans Are Drowning In The Largest Ocean Of Consumer Debt In The History Of The World
TEC ^ | 11/13/2026 | Michael Snyder

Posted on 11/13/2026 8:59:21 PM PST by SeekAndFind

Total household debt in the United States just hit a brand new all-time record high. For a large portion of the U.S. population, debt is a suffocating financial reality that never goes away. Millions upon millions of Americans found themselves drowning in debt the instant that they left college, and a very large percentage of them will still be deep in debt when they die. The entire system is designed to get us into debt and keep us there.

Because a college education has become so expensive, most Americans have to go into debt to get one. Once you get out of school, you rapidly discover that you are going to have to go into more debt to get a vehicle or buy a home. And don't even get me started on medical debt. Most Americans, and this is especially true for those under the age of 40, are carrying mountains of soul-crushing debt. This is one of the primary reasons why young adults seem to be so angry all the time.

Many Americans that purposely tried to stay out of debt by living a frugal lifestyle have now been forced to take on debt by the rising cost of living.

At this stage, approximately 63 percent of all U.S. adults are living paycheck to paycheck, and 44 percent of Americans struggle to pay for even the most basic necessities.

When you are living right on the edge, it is so easy to go into debt when an unexpected expense suddenly arises.

You tell yourself that you are going to pay it off right away, but then something else comes up next month.

Of course if you end up getting sick and have to go to the hospital, that can set you back financially for years.

I can understand why millions of young people say that they are sick and tired of playing the game.

This week, we learned that total household debt in the United States has reached an all-time record high of 19.1 trillion dollars...

Total household debt rose $334 billion in the third quarter, to $19.1 trillion, according to new data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Today, our Center for Microeconomic Data issued its Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit. The report shows total household debt increased by $334 billion in Q3 2026, to $19.1 trillion. Learn more: https://t.co/HPC1E9kEGK pic.twitter.com/UKMCdDrslxโ€” New York Fed (@NewYorkFed) November 10, 2026

Even if we added nothing to that total from now on, it would take us approximately 52,293 years to pay off 19.1 trillion dollars of household debt at a rate of 1 million dollars per day.

Of course we are never going to pay off all that debt, are we?

The system is designed to keep increasing the total amount of household debt so that financial institutions can get even wealthier.

Credit card debt is among the most insidious forms of debt.

Last quarter, the total amount of credit card debt in the U.S. rose to a new record high of 1.29 trillion dollars...

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, released November 10, credit card balances increased by $22 billion during the third quarter, reaching $1.29 trillion.

That's a 1.7% increase from the previous quarter and approximately 4.2% more than a year earlier.

The increase comes as American households continue to struggle with the cumulative effects of inflation, elevated borrowing costs, and other pressures on family budgets.

This should deeply alarm all of us.

According to Consumer Affairs, credit card balances have "increased by approximately 61% over the past five years"...

Credit card balances have increased by approximately 61% over the past five years, according to an analysis of the Fed's data by American Banker. The total first crossed the $1 trillion threshold in 2023.

Sadly, we owe even more than that on our auto loans and our student loans...

Auto loan balances increased by $21 billion to $1.73 trillion, while student loan balances rose by $5 billion to $1.66 trillion.

Home equity lines of credit increased by $23 billion to $481 billion, the largest quarterly increase in that category since 2005.

The average length for a loan on a new vehicle is now 69 months.

The reason why payments are being stretched out for so long is because the average price of a new vehicle has hit $51,109...

The average price of a new vehicle in the US has climbed to a record $51,109, according to a new Cox Automotive report citing Kelley Blue Book data. Combined with new-car loan rates near their highest levels since the mid-2000s, record sticker prices are putting vehicle ownership increasingly out of reach for many working-class folks, even before insurance, fuel and maintenance costs are factored in.

The vast majority of Americans cannot afford to purchase a new vehicle.

In fact, used vehicles are now out of reach for much of the population.

Our standard of living is declining right in front of our eyes, and that should be obvious to everyone.

When I was growing up, homes were being rapidly constructed all over the country and they were quite affordable.

But now homes are insanely expensive and home sales just fell to their lowest level in 16 years as a result...

Home sales declined in October to their lowest level since 2010, a new trough for a housing market that has been hovering near rock bottom for more than four years.

Sales of existing homes fell 5.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.75 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday, marking the steepest decline since January. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected a decline of 3.8%.

This is not what prosperity looks like.

Decades of very foolish decisions have destroyed our standard of living, and the outlook for the future is exceedingly bleak.

U.S. households are 19 trillion dollars in debt, and the federal government is 40 trillion dollars in debt.

How can anyone possibly claim that this is going to end well?

Earlier today, I came across an article about the sinking of the SS United States...

The historic SS United States, once the fastest ship on the seas, made a slow final journey beneath the waters Wednesday.

The famous ocean liner - which is longer than the Titanic and crossed the Atlantic more than 800 times - was deliberately sunk Wednesday to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, where the once-luxurious behemoth was set to begin a new chapter as the world's largest artificial reef.

It was a long goodbye.

Hours after the sinking began on a cloudy afternoon, much of the hulking ship could still be seen in the dark waters off the coast of the Florida Panhandle by nightfall.

Just like that ship, our economy was once a magnificent vessel.

But now it is also sinking.

Previous generations handed us the keys to the most robust economy in the history of the world and we wrecked it.

We obviously did not learn anything from our mistakes, because we just elected the worst group of lawmakers that I have ever seen.

It has been said that debt is the worst form of poverty.

In other words, owing money is worse than simply having nothing at all because you are starting below zero.

Our leaders were able to keep the party going for a long time, but now a moment of reckoning is at hand and the collapse that is starting to unfold is going to be incredibly painful.



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: affordabilitytrope; consumer; debt; panicporn

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1 posted on 11/13/2026 8:59:21 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

A trillion here and a trillion there and pretty soon you’re talking about some real money.


2 posted on 11/13/2026 9:02:21 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum ("The EU is the old Soviet Union dressed in Western clothes." --Mikhail Gorbachev)
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To: SeekAndFind

Trillions of Americans?

Must be some liberal article, math is HARD Dude!

I have no debt other than property tax to deal with.


3 posted on 11/13/2026 9:04:55 PM PST by doorgunner69
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To: SeekAndFind

Property Tax and Insurances are the only debt we have. We own our meager home. No credit cards, own vehicles outright—


4 posted on 11/13/2026 9:11:48 PM PST by abigkahuna
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

RE: A trillion here and a trillion there and pretty soon youโ€™re talking about some real money.

That quote was attributed to Senator Everett Dirksen (A Republican), but then, he did not say “trillion”, it was “billion”, but that was in the 1960’s.


5 posted on 11/13/2026 9:24:12 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: sauropod

.


6 posted on 11/13/2026 9:27:10 PM PST by sauropod ("Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati." Ne supra crepidam)
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To: All

I knew the beginning of complete collapse was starting ‘during covid’ when people had to start using credit cards even to buy groceries and fuel..... and tens of millions are still doing that.

But on the ‘bright side’; the way things are going now; between the various evil plots of ‘the powers that be’, combined with the complete incompetence of those powers, there soon won’t be any food or fuel to ‘waste’ your money on, so it won’t much matter what your credit card balance is.


7 posted on 11/13/2026 9:32:29 PM PST by LegendHasIt
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To: SeekAndFind

โš–๏ธ

Cronyism: “Read my lips”

The Kennebunkport Clan.


8 posted on 11/13/2026 9:33:15 PM PST by Varsity Flight ( "War by ๐Ÿ™ the prophesied set before you." ) I Timothy 1:18. Nazarite warriors. 10.5.6.5 These Days)
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To: SeekAndFind

When a people chronically consume more than they produce, the culture erodes and eventually collapses. The Calvinist preachers were right. Self gratifying debt leads to neo pagan, hedonistic decadence.


9 posted on 11/13/2026 9:40:45 PM PST by allendale
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To: SeekAndFind

Bookmark.


10 posted on 11/13/2026 9:41:39 PM PST by Inyo-Mono
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To: SeekAndFind

I looked it up before I posted. There is no evidence he actually said it. When asked by a reporter he didn’t deny it because he liked it.


11 posted on 11/13/2026 9:42:35 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum ("The EU is the old Soviet Union dressed in Western clothes." --Mikhail Gorbachev)
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To: SeekAndFind

Not me!........................


12 posted on 11/13/2026 9:45:00 PM PST by Red Badger (Iryna Zarutska, May 22, 2002 Kyiv, Ukraine โ€“ August 22, 2025 Charlotte, North Carolina Say her name)
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To: LegendHasIt

using a credit card to pay for groceries is not the issue.

Not paying the card down when you do so is the issue.


13 posted on 11/13/2026 10:04:09 PM PST by SPDSHDW (A sinner saved by Jesus)
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To: SeekAndFind

Doing my part!


14 posted on 11/13/2026 10:15:10 PM PST by rktman (Patriotism not 'hateriotism' !. Enlisted USN 1967 proudly. ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ)
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To: SeekAndFind
"...The entire system is designed to get us into debt and keep us there. Because a college education has become so expensive, most Americans have to go into debt to get one..."

The average tuition of a Massachusetts state college is $13,000 per year. One of the three most expensive states in the union.

There are a lot of people who get into debt, and it is no fault of their own. Accidents happen. Jobs are lost. People get sick. Things like that.

And we all go into debt to buy a house. I know very few people who could buy their first house with cash...and I certainly did not.

But a lot of people get into debt because they think it will never happen to them. And a lot of people simply overextend in their lives. How many debt ridden people don't cut back on their travel or social lives? How many still go out to eat? How many buy a new Tesla instead of a cheap used car? How many get a big house instead of a smaller, less fancy, affordable one? How many have cable television with multiple paid channels? And how many still have to have their daily cup of coffee from a place like Starbucks instead of making on their own?

How many went to an Ivy League school with a realistic expectation and plan to find appropriate work and pay back their loans instead of making that same calculation and going to a State College instead...or into a different field? An art degree from Harvard is a fine thing, but how will you be paying that tuition back anytime soon?

Thing is, for many people, debt is a choice. And refusing to live within your means is a choice.

Again-many people are in debt and had little control over it, even if they weren't making the right choices, it isn't their fault because you cannot plan for everything.

I didn't care for the tone of this article, "The system is MADE to trap you". Rubbish. If you aren't a victim of unforeseen events, you can avoid being "trapped" by making choices that avoid it. And a lot of people don't even consider doing that. Gotta have the newest iPhone you know.

15 posted on 11/13/2026 10:36:29 PM PST by rlmorel (It looks hard, and itโ€™s harder than it looks. (Elon Musk regarding rocket science))
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To: SPDSHDW

Well, Obviously.


16 posted on 11/13/2026 10:43:07 PM PST by LegendHasIt
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To: abigkahuna
"...Property Tax and Insurances are the only debt we have. We own our meager home. No credit cards, own vehicles outright..."

Yes. We got an affordable but not fancy house when interest rates were 9-13%. We had used furniture and kitchen goods. We paid an extra $100 a month in principal and paid off our mortgage in half the time.

We bought savings bonds whenever we could afford it.

We pay our credit cards off each month. We make our coffee at home. We eat out maybe once every couple of weeks.

And when we were working, we made it so that if one of us lost our job through downturns or sickness, we could still pay our bills.

We both went to State Colleges, and we both chose professions that were sure to provide working options even if the economy went South. We didn't have Art or Sociology degrees. The wife was a nurse, and I got a degree in Chemistry before ending up in the medical fields.

All those things were deliberate choices. And we made them because we wanted to be self-reliant. That had value for us.

17 posted on 11/13/2026 10:45:46 PM PST by rlmorel (It looks hard, and itโ€™s harder than it looks. (Elon Musk regarding rocket science))
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To: doorgunner69

I think it refers to the dollar amount of debt, not the number of people.


18 posted on 11/13/2026 10:57:59 PM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: SeekAndFind

The Globalists intend to digitally tokenize everything, require a global Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), Digital IDs and use Social Credit Scores to control the populations.

All while using manufactured economic chaos as the reason it is required. USAID was funding every evil imaginable while at the same time facilitating the demolition of the Worlds Reserve Currency, destroying the power of the last remaining stronghold of freedom on the Earth.


19 posted on 11/13/2026 11:09:28 PM PST by captmar-vell
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To: SeekAndFind

* When the penny was phased out

* When Sodomite is in the Treasury

* When people think they’re buying a house, and they’re really buying a mortgage.

* When people accept the concept of “co-pay”

* When “insurance” companies are actually investment monopolies.

* When Fairfax is the wealthiest in the United States.

* When Congress has aides

* When Congress have homes in Washington

* When a President needs a helicopter

* When a patient has a deductible

* When having vehicle insurance is mandatory

* When owners are heisted by property taxation.

* When women are permitted in public places, when they should only be at home or in church borders

* When insurance companies have deductibles

* When there is Presidential Working Groups on Financial Markets backstopping any “market”

* When government employees retirements are in stocks, backed by The Presidential Working Groups on Financial Markets


20 posted on 11/13/2026 11:41:53 PM PST by Varsity Flight ( "War by ๐Ÿ™ the prophesied set before you." ) I Timothy 1:18. Nazarite warriors. 10.5.6.5 These Days)
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