Posted on 12/12/2008 2:20:54 AM PST by RKBA Democrat
Stung by the loss of more than $2.8 trillion in their net wealth, the nation's households paid down debts in the third quarter for the first time since at least 1952, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday. As of Sept. 30, the total outstanding debt for households shrank at an annualized rate of 0.8% from $13.94 trillion to $13.91 trillion, the Fed said in its quarterly flow of funds report. It's the first decline in household debt ever recorded in the report. Households paid off more mortgage debt than they took on for just the second quarter on record. Mortgage debt fell at a 2.4% annual rate to $10.54 trillion, as foreclosures mounted and fewer new mortgages were taken on. Other consumer debts, such as credit cards and auto loans, increased at a 1.2% annual rate in the quarter to $2.6 trillion. Total U.S. domestic nonfinancial debt increased at a 7.2% annual rate, boosted by a postwar record 39.2% increase in debt taken on by the federal government, mostly to fund the Federal Reserve's massive efforts to provide liquidity to credit markets. Excluding federal debt, U.S. debts rose at a 1% annual rate in the quarter.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
The problem as so aptly stated long ago by people a lot smarter than me, that the public is not well versed with the nature of money, banking, and credit. Hell, I was caught up with excessive debt as a youngster. People opine “they ought to teach that stuff in school, how to balance a checkbook.”
Guess what, they do, or tried. Sort of an afterthought in the 80s, but they did have a class or two on personal finances. Kids usually/often have to learn the tough way, through bitter experience. What strikes me is the waste of good bandwidth of the public airwaves too. Lots of overnight radio is just nonsense ranting of “ufos” and crystal healing, supposed astro-logy and “carbon sequestration.”
Live within your means or be a democrat....simple.
And if they decide to devalue the dollar, all these people are going to feel like chumps. Might as well wait on that to happen and pay off debt with cheaper dollars.
This bailout mentality is creating all kinds of moral dilemmas. The old rules of responsibility and keeping your word are out the window in this corrupt system.
In my opinion, they don’t teach economics in school on purpose.
Debt makes one a slave. The central banking industry rules an entire nation of slaves and we don’t even know it.
That is an option, but that doesn’t really benefit anyone simply because to quote a phrase it’s not “sustainable”.
The distortions in the economy - a three day stay in the hospital costing 3 years avg. pay, say, or a housing bubble/crash, etc. Things get out of whack, eventually. Credit used responsibly is a useful tool for governments as well as all the way down to the family unit.
You know those statements are not factually correct. Seriously now, what are you really saying?
I've found that to be true about many things, other than just finances.
Its mainly due to people being denied credit by lenders according to Fox News.
Dave Ramsey followers are the “voluntary”.
Live within your means, or get bailed out by a Republican President.
Operate your company in whichever way you choose, and if it doesn’t work out, your multi-million dollar bonuses are safe, because a Republican President has bailed you out.
Curse Bush, damn his sorry ass straight to hell.
How does the central bank make you a slave? What do you "know" that "we" don't?
I blame Dave Ramsey.
Dave talks a lot about personal finance being only about 30% knowledge, and 70% discipline. I’ve had macroeconomics, microeconomics, personal finance, two semesters of accounting, business law, etc. I KNOW very well how to balance a checkbook. But from the time I was a child I haven’t been able to live within my means.
I still suck at it, but at least I’m heading in the right direction.
I disagree. Inflationary reduction in future payback dollars is a microeconomic concept that doesn’t help today. Besides, people are getting eaten up by the juice - future inflation isn’t going to help with that.
no mention of how much this could be attrubted to Bancrupcy\foreclosure
Market Watch screwed up. Maybe they used last quarter's data, but the latest report shows a Balance Sheet where debt increases and home mortgages decrease to $10.57T. Let's see, debt reduction means " Bancrupcy\foreclosure" and "an entire nation of slaves", so if debt really increased then we must be fine?
Prov 22:7 The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
Rom 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
And economics is not taught in school. Sure, they teach you to balance a checkbook in home ec, but that’s about it.
There’s absolutely nothing about the revolt against the Bank of England, the debate between Jefferson and Hamilton, Jackson’s war against the Bank of the US, etc.
Listening to Congressional debate over the last few days on CSPAN, a clear majority of the members absolutely declare that it IS your responsibility to bail these people out.
Barney Frank, for instance, with his “Corporations are actual people, so we’re bailing out real people. And we can’t let people starve.”
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