Consumer debt hits $2.52 trillion.
By on Mar 7th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Consumer debt hits $2.52 trillion.
The AP reports:
The Federal Reserve reported Friday that consumer credit increased at an annual rate of 3.3 percent in January. That was up from a 1.8 percent growth rate in December and marked the fastest pace since November.
The pickup in January pushed up total consumer debt by $6.9 billion to $2.52 trillion. That was on target with economists’ expectations.The increase in borrowing was led by heavier use of revolving credit, primarily credit cards. Demand for revolving credit rose at a 7 percent pace in January. That was up from a 2.8 percent growth rate in December.
More on the credit crisis here.
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It is sad that so many Americans are bad with their money. Not sure why this is on TP though. Do the dems want to bail people out that used credit cards to buy plasma TV’s?
March 7th, 2008 at 3:52 pmHow long before the whole house of (credit) cards collapses?
Thanks Shrub.
March 7th, 2008 at 3:53 pmIt is sad that so many Americans are bad with their money. Not sure why this is on TP though. Do the dems want to bail people out that used credit cards to buy plasma TV’s?
Comment by Roger_Roger — March 7, 2008 @ 3:52 pm
Why do you hate Americans?
March 7th, 2008 at 3:54 pmComment by Roger_Roger — March 7, 2008 @ 3:52 pm
We’re more concerned with those who have to use credit cards to pay for PLASMA and other medical services… but consumer debt is a problem for ALL patriotic Americans as the repercussions will affect all of us.
March 7th, 2008 at 3:56 pmAs a wise man once said, ” What you do unto the least of these…”
Comment by Roger_Roger — March 7, 2008 @ 3:52 pm
why do you ask?
are you looking for a hand out or a loan?
March 7th, 2008 at 3:59 pmThis means the surge is working!!!
W’s and Cheney’s oil buddies are going to get richer!!
- Rob Hussein Bez
March 7th, 2008 at 4:01 pmThis Republican government is rotting at the core…stinking rotting Republican economy ala Republican fascism. The stage is set for US depression…so sad for the poor and working poor.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:03 pmfolks rr is looking for help.
what can we do for him?
~ joe hussein cantwell
March 7th, 2008 at 4:03 pmIt is sad that so many Americans are bad with their money. Not sure why this is on TP though.
Comment by Roger_Roger
I guess if the sum of your expenses revolve around a cable TV bill and your diaper service, then you may have a point.
Others of your fellow Americans may have more issues on their plates than you do. We all don’t live in Mom’s basement, eating Mom’s food, having Mom wash our clothes, getting health care at the local free clinic, & driving a skateboard around town.
Some of us have issues like educating our kids and preparing for our retirement. Your cavalier way of describing your fellow Americans is an insult and inappropriate. I am still wondering why you are not in Iraq or Afghanistan. Care to answer that question Rx2? Are you man enough to admit you don’t have the stomach to leave Mom’s basement?
March 7th, 2008 at 4:04 pmWhen people are turning to credit to buy groceries we’re in trouble.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:09 pmWhen people are turning to credit to buy groceries we’re in trouble.
Comment by leftcoast — March 7, 2008 @ 4:09 pm
Exactly.
Being “bad” with money has very little to do with it.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:11 pmThe Federal Reserve System saw this coming down the pike. This is why they pushed so hard to change the bankruptcy laws.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:12 pmWell if the WH can borrow money to pay for an immoral war (and put the money “off the books” I might add), then why can’t I borrow money for a few of the finer things in life ?
March 7th, 2008 at 4:13 pmBush is hoping to keep his finger on the leak.. plugging the hole until after Jan. 20 ‘09.. then allowing this massive explosion happen after his watch.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:15 pm***Had Hussein Enough***
President Bush said Friday that “it’s clear our economy has slowed” and tried to reassure an anxious public that the long-term outlook is good.
Good means bad in Bush laguage
Oil today was 1.06 a barrel
1 Euro was $1.54
see resident P is still here
March 7th, 2008 at 4:15 pmHey RR:
The CEO of Countrywide turned out to be pretty bad with money… are you against us paying the credit card bill to bail him out?
http://money.cnn.com/ 2008/ 01/ 11/ news/ companies/ sloan_countrywide.fortune/ index.htm?section=money_topstories
March 7th, 2008 at 4:15 pmBush is hoping to keep his finger on the leak.. plugging the hole until after Jan. 20 ‘09.. then allowing this massive explosion happen after his watch.
***Had Hussein Enough***
That’s what Reagan did for his Bush’s daddy. The S&L crisis was held back from voters by the Federal Reserve until Bush One was elected.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:17 pmmakes me feel like i’m hardly in debt at all.
Thanks, Righties, for trashing the economy and enriching the pharoahs you so meekly and humbly serve.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:17 pmI owe $0 dollars on credit cards, I pay them off monthly.
I don’t like paying interest on anything, if I can help it.
Buck Hussein Fush
March 7th, 2008 at 4:19 pmRoger’s a callous dickhead. It would serve him right if his house caught fire, and no fire department was there to go help.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:19 pmwait a sec….
RR doesn’t want to bail out consumers, but he does want to bail out his idiot-prince president to the tune of our 9 TRILLION dollar national debt.
what an idiot.
you can do the basic arithmetic, cantcha rog?
or do you use the “idiot math” the rest of the Righties favor.
annoying, redundant idiot.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:22 pm.
And the War OF Terrorism against Iraq is costing us…
… Just about as much… NO?
.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:25 pmAs the Liar-in-Chief says things are great and better then we have ever been. Even better then those bad Clinton years when Americnans didn’t have jobs and were losing their homes. Now if Senator Obama gets in office Americans will see 10.25 per cent sales tax as they have in Chicago. Yes Obama believes in raising what ever necessary as he’s directed by John Kerry and Ted Kennedy. Americans don’t want the person who would bring back our economy and honesty name Hillary Clinton. We want to keep things as they are until we hit rock bottom or the Middle East takes over after calling in there loans.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:25 pm#19: I don’t owe anything either. The first thing I do when we get paid is pay us (savings account) and pay off the credit cards every month. Credit cards should only be used to manage cash flow IMHO.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:27 pmSo, RR, what is your answer to your critics here? Why do you support a spendthrift administration that has driven the economy into a black hole of debt, while at the same time you criticize middle class individuals, at least some of who are buying groceries and paying medical bills with credit cards? Why doesn’t this make you a hypocrite?
Tell, me, sinner, which estimate of the cost of the war do you believe? Is it $2 trillion? Or is it $3 trillion? Or does it matter to you whether it is $2 trillion instead of $3 trillion, or $3 trillion instead of $2 trillion?
March 7th, 2008 at 4:28 pmBy the way, you sinning hypocrite, just so you know, I owe NOTHING on credit cards, but I bet a lot of LYING Republican scum owe plenty.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:30 pmWell at least the change in bankruptcy law will protect Master Card, American Express and Visa.
“Having no job, no money and no protection from predator creditors: Priceless.”
March 7th, 2008 at 4:31 pm.
Hea Hussein Zooey,
Don’t know if you saw this…
McClinton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOytXkCw0NY
Max-Hussein-1
.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:32 pmWhen people are turning to credit to buy groceries we’re in trouble.
Comment by leftcoast — March 7, 2008 @ 4:09 pm
Exactly.
Being “bad†with money has very little to do with it.
Comment by Zooey
It fits their agenda. They always accuse the poor of getting on welfare to get rich….you know have enough kids to have lots of money rolling in…….
What they won’t admit and what we all know is that every person…..even the lowliest poor person, black, white, yellow it doesn’t matter……they all want the same things. A living wage, happieness that comes with security that you have medical care, food, education for you children……jobs.
Remember and I know the trolls will try to deny this but when JFK was president the unemployment rate was…1%……and that didn’t include the military. People are the same….they want jobs, respectiblity, opportunity, etc.
If the best you offer your citizens is what they have in SC LA……a job at the Colonels…….McDonalds, etc. or sell drugs then you have to expect the worst. It’s the same reason the Latino’s are coming here, they can do better here than at home for their families and you would do the same thing.
Oh and RR….I can remember when anyone who was offering 20% was a mobster…..a criminal…..and they still are.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:34 pmIt is sad that so many Americans are bad with their money.
Comment by Roger_Roger — March 7, 2008 @ 3:52 pm
THIS is your knee-jerk reaction to this item? There could be any number of reasons for this statistic, and you have already come to a conclusion. Amazing.
Let’s examine some possible reasons:
1) Americans are bad with their money. They are out indulging every whim they have — plasma TVs, cruises, new furniture — without giving any thought to price tags.
2) Americans have followed Bush’s directive and have all gone shopping to stimulate the economy.
3) Americans are having to use credit cards to pay for basics such as groceries and gasoline, as prices soar higher than wages and stretching a paycheck gets harder and harder.
4) Americans are having to use credit cards to pay for medical expenses and prescriptions, as health insurance covers less and less (if they have it at all).
5) Americans who have been forced to use credit cards to pay for necessities and can’t pay their bills are seeing the interest charges pile up, increasing their debt.
Because the news hasn’t reported an upsurge in consumer spending lately, I think that might rule out 1) and 2) — leaving 3), 4), and 5) the likely culprits for the high consumer debt figure.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:39 pm.
When I worked at Starbucks, you wouldn’t believe the amount of Hummer owners that would put a Triple Tall non-fat, two and a half pump of vanilla Latte on credit.
.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:40 pmFuture predictions anyone? It appears the corporate powers that be have set their self up very nicely for the big crash…. will step over the deteriorating masses into their castles in Dubai and other places. And all the prayers from the Christian religious right, the very folks that helped Bush get in to create this mess will not work.
***Had Hussein Enough***
March 7th, 2008 at 4:45 pmHas Gigi blamed Clinton yet?
~Dr. Hussien Matt
March 7th, 2008 at 4:47 pmPost #28. I should take a little more time with my posts…..I apologize for the poor grammer and disjointed sentences
March 7th, 2008 at 4:50 pmIdiots, like rr and gg, can’t “blame” anyone or anything. What they can do is hop around like monkeys, throw poop, and do it with their aunties, like the monkeys they are.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:51 pmDo the dems want to bail people out that used credit cards to buy plasma TV’s?
Comment by Roger_Roger
I’m gonna yell so even with your head rammed up your arsehole you’ll still hear me:
Bush told consumers to “do their part, and go shopping”.
You and Dumbya have much in common, based on simple minded sound bites: You’re both tremendously idiotic fcukers, and rotten to the core.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:58 pmConservatives seem to be missing the ability to say “There but for the grace of god go I.”
If you screw up, it’s your fault.
If the president and his party and hangers-on screw up, blame the Media.
Cal Hussein Malenky
March 7th, 2008 at 5:00 pmDo the dems want to bail people out that used credit cards to buy plasma TV’s?
Comment by Roger_Roger
I’m gonna yell so even with your head rammed up your arsehole you’ll still hear me:
Bush told consumers to “do their part, and go shoppingâ€.
Comment by DieNowForPeace — March 7, 2008 @ 4:58 pm
And don’t forget we’ve had about 25 years of deregulation of the mortgage, banking and credit industries. There used to be more safeguards protecting the vulnerable, naive and uneducated from preditory lenders and other shady, unethical and greedy characters.
March 7th, 2008 at 5:40 pmMaybe someone with a little better memory than me can elaborate on this.
Conservatives seem to be missing the ability to say “There but for the grace of god go I.â€
Comment by Cal Malenky — March 7, 2008 @ 5:00 pm
Cal Hussein, that is, for my money, the defining characteristic of conservatism. A severely underdeveloped sense of empathy.
March 7th, 2008 at 6:16 pmI can’t help but believe this is exactly how the neoCONs planned it. First they push through the bankruptcy bill that made it practically impossible to declare bankruptcy. Then they initiated the whole sub prime lending scheme. Now that America has tapped out all the equity in their homes and the economy is going south, people are having to use their credit cards to pay for living expenses. Then when the whole house of cards comes tumbling down, the credit card companies will still be getting rich while the middle class has become poor.
I am so glad that I learned a long time ago to pay off my credit card every month and to not buy something unless I had the money to pay for it. But, then, I am lucky in that I have a job and a small mortgage which means I can live on my income and don’t have to charge necessities. All bets will be off, though, if I lose my job.
March 7th, 2008 at 6:30 pmCare to answer that question Rx2? Are you man enough to admit you don’t have the stomach to leave Mom’s basement?
Don’t hold your breath. rr doesn’t answer question. It just comes here to take a crap, stir things up and then run away. It is an odious troll and should be ignored.
March 7th, 2008 at 6:32 pmSo American’s are treading water the only way they know how; running up credit card debt. It would be interesting to see the details behind that headline number. Is the credit card debt going up because people are buying plasma TV’s as some charge or is it the higher costs at the gas pump and grocery store that is driving up the debt. One would not think that February would be a big month for a surge in plasma TV purchases so my guess would be that it is the basic, everyday items that are driving up the credit card debt. This credit card debt load could well be where the lion’s share of the May tax advance checks will be spent rather than as a goose for the economy.
March 8th, 2008 at 12:05 amComment by flavorino — March 7, 2008 @ 5:40 pm
And there use to be a time when people actually ran their finances with an actual budget and were responsible.
Comment by Tracy2 — March 7, 2008 @ 9:35 pm
Yes, indeed. We all miss the Clinton Administration; hope we can do as well during the Obama Administration, although if we are saddled with a Republic debt and Congress, it will be almost impossible.
March 8th, 2008 at 12:07 amThere used to be a time when people actually thought before they spoke too. Obviously you don’t feel obligated to follow those simple guidlines.
as far as your republican projection on the poor…..I guess you mean things like social security that we didn’t deliver….oh yeah we did….or maybe unemployment insurance…..oh yeah we did…..how about the war on poverty, I guess that was just a scheme too.
All you do when you make such statments is show your bias, ignorance and distain for those who actually care about others. You are a fool.
March 8th, 2008 at 11:03 amPeople need to stop spending more than they have. It’s pretty simple. Difficult for most people to, but still, it’s a simple solution.
March 8th, 2008 at 4:20 pmAnd I want to be clear. No one, especially, some bank or credit corporation should get a bailout from the govt. If anything they need to be sued and run out of business for screwing so many people.
March 8th, 2008 at 4:23 pmIt is sad that so many Americans are bad with their money. Not sure why this is on TP though. Do the dems want to bail people out that used credit cards to buy plasma TV’s? — Roger Roger
********************************************
Let me ask you this, R2 — what would be likely to happen if a large number of Americans were to make a commitment to start living within their means (which an overwhelming majority of Americans don’t do but probably should) and to start buying less — which if things continue as they are, many people will probably be forced into doing? One of the things it will mean is that there’s less money going into the economy, which to say the least won’t exactly help. The fact is that our economy is at this point to at least some extent built on a shaky foundation — and not just because our country is currently borrowing money hand over fist from other countries in order to pay for the War In Iraq. The fact is that our economy seems to be at least partially dependent upon people living on credit because they buy more — and not only because they buy more, but because they often have to pay the consequences in terms of interest on their credit.
The fact is that if most Americans were and had been living within their means over the last couple of decades (and the overwhelming majority, Democrats and Republicans alike, have not), our society might be quite different from what it is now. If you live within your means as I do (and that’s by no means a small feat where I live in NYC!), you simply don’t buy things you don’t have money for which means that you don’t contribute as much to the economy. I live an extremely simple life, I dare say, in comparison with the vast majority of people my age — and some of that is by choice, but not all of it. Unfortunately, Roger, you can’t have it both ways!
March 9th, 2008 at 12:13 pm