Some numbers on the American debt machine and how it has increased since Bush took office. Someone please call Bill Clintonm and ask him how to win. He'd yell, "It's the economy stupid".
EXCERPT BEGINS
STUNNING ESCALATION OF U.S. DEBT BURDEN PER HOUSEHOLD
The U.S. has become the most highly indebted nation in the world, with an immense and growing debt burden on America's households.
U.S. living standards are falling.
Yet, precisely in response to falling living standards, and in order to purchase the most basic necessities, households borrow and add on to their debt.
The underlying process, which digs households deeper and deeper in the hole, makes the debts unpayable.
Between 1970 and 2003, Total U.S. Debt followed a hyperbolic path, rising from $1.63 trilion to $38.85 trillion, a 23-fold increase.
During the same time period, U.S. Household Debt, which is a subsector of Total U.S. Debt, and which consists of home mortgage debt, credit card debt, and installment debt (to purchase cars, refrigerators, etc on installment plans), zoomed from $460 billion, to $9.44 trillion.
- Table 1 -
Total U.S. Debt, and U.S. Household Debt, Expressed on a Household Basis, 1970-2003
U.S. Household Debt Total U.S. Debt Per Household Per Household
1970 07,259 025,737
1980 17,350 058,311
1990 38,545 153,093
2000 67,589 274,930
2001 72,884 294,292
2002 79,311 314,696
2003 87,266 340,650
source: U.S. Federal Reserve Board "Flow of Funds Accounts"; U.S. Treasury Department; U.S. Commerce Department;
Table 1 shows each U.S. household is crushed under the burden of $87,266 of Household Debt per household.
Two things must be kept in mind.
First, that leading the growth of U.S. Household Debt is home mortgage debt; during the last 5 years, a huge percentage of home mortgage debt represents cash-out refinancing, in which households borrow against their homes as collateral, to extract cash to make necessary household purchases.
Second, some wealthy families and some elderly families have little or no debt, which means that numerous other families have household debts of $150,000, or $300,000 or more.
It is dramatically noteworthy that between the end of 2000 and the end of 2003, the volume of Household Debt per household climbed by $20,000.
Druing the Cheney-Bush collapse process, households piled on the debt, in order to barely persevere.
Table 1 also shows that between 2000 and 2003, Total U.S. Debt, borne per household, rose from $274,930 to $340,650,
a stunning increase of more than $65,000 in but three years.
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