From The Department of Holy F#@k!
Felix Salmon, economics blogger for Reuters had this post up a few days ago:
Mike Mandel has four nominees for his “Economic Statistic of the Decade” award, including home prices (obvs), Chinese growth, and global trade. But the most startling one, for me, is US household borrowing:
I like the time frame that Mike has chosen here, since it shows not only the huge increase in borrowing during the credit boom and the stomach-churning plunge thereafter, but also, for much of the 1990s, what “normal” should look like.
Mike notes that the data for this chart includes domestic hedge funds, so it shouldn’t be taken entirely at face value. But it’s the best visual representation I’ve seen of the credit boom and bust.
There’s also a nice riposte in comments to someone whining about the current decade not being over yet:
Exactly. Enjoy this new decade. And borrow sensibly! I’ll see if I can’t find the same data for Canadian households. I imagine it is only somewhat more prudent…
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