[dalereed]

“Our debt to income ratio was pretty constant over the past 10 years until this last year. Our household net worth skyrocketed during that same time. American households mired in debt is a myth.”

That’s a flat out lie unless you are speaking only for yourself!

[expat_panama]

"American households mired in debt is a myth.”   "That’s a flat out lie..."

Hey Dale, don't be so hard on us.  

Some of us actually need to know this kind of finance stuff so we can run our businesses and feed out families.  Now, if your case is different and you're free to believe whatever bad things about America you want, then that's fine and more power to you, but it doesn't mean we're bad people just because we have to check this stuff out.

[Mase]

“Our debt to income ratio was pretty constant over the past 10 years until this last year. Our household net worth skyrocketed during that same time. American households mired in debt is a myth.”

That’s a flat out lie unless you are speaking only for yourself!

Yeah, whatever.

As you might be able to see from this graphic, our debt to income ratio remained between 18%-19% from 1997 through most of 2006. This happened during a time when interest rates were dropping like a stone and home ownership was skyrocketing. Is it more advantageous for people to increase their debt when rates are low or when rates are high? The fact that the debt to income ratio remained within a tight range during that time makes it clear that you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

If you have the time (and a calculator) you might want to go to the Fed's Flow of Funds reports and look at just how much our net worth increased during that same time period. Given that net worth is calculated by subtracting liabilities from assets, you're going to have a hard time proving to us that American consumers borrowed their way into doom. Maybe in your world that's true but for the vast majority of Americans it is not. But you believe what you want.....