Not to say we don't have a lot of problems, because we do, but $14 trillion in credit card debt? That's total garbage.
There's currently about $2.5 trillion in outstanding consumer credit, of which just under $1 trillion is revolving debt (credit cards). The remaining $1.5 trillion is car loans, education loans, and other non-revolving loans. This amount is partly secured, in the case of car loans and loans given for the purchase of other products.
Now, there is about $14.5 trillion in mortgage debt out there, which is secured to an extent against the value of the real assets backing the paper. Without more accurate figures about the current values of the property backing that debt, it is impossible to say how much of that is actually secured.
IOW, credit card debt is about, what? 7 or 8% of GDP?
It really doesn’t matter what the actual number is.
It really doesn’t matter what any of us think.
What matters is what other people around the world think of us.
They don’t care what the actual numbers are either. They’re not looking at actual numbers. They’re looking at trends. The trends they see in America, and the pace of those trends, frighten them to one degree or another.
If they decide to cut us loose, they won’t care what we think.
This essay doesn’t matter either. Nobody cares what I or any other individual here thinks. What we think doesn’t matter.
That’s the whole point. Our opinions don’t matter. Every opinion expressed on this site doesn’t matter.
Reality is what matters.
If I have inaccurately described reality, it doesn’t matter because reality doesn’t care what I or anyone else thinks. If I have accurately described reality, it doesn’t matter because reality doesn’t care what I or anyone else thinks.