Deleveraging begins according to Fed data
Back on September 29th I wrote this post regarding the concept of “deleveraging”. Over the past few decades American households and corporations were addicted to debt. We used credit cards, home equity lines of credit, mortgage loans, auto loans, etc. to accelerate our consumption.
However, our unabated use of debt lead us to where we find ourselves today. In the midst of one of the worst financial crisis’s in our nation’s history. As a result, the credit spicket has been turned off and consumers are being forced to deleverage their personal balance sheets.
Data supporting this trend was released today when the Federal Reserve reported that consumer borrowing declined last month for the first time in nearly 20 years. In the long-run this is good news.
Posted: October 8th, 2008 under Debt, Personal Finance.
Tags: borrowing, consumer credit, Debt, deleverage, deleveraging, implications of credit crisis