We've been amused to watch all the hoopla breathlessly streaming through the media mouthpieces this past week as they breathlessly report record holiday shopping sales. Here's a report from Brett Arends at MarketWatch.com you need to read and pass along to everyone you know before you and your friends get swept up in the "Happy News" ...
The U.S. consumer is still broke... The numbers are not heartening. Despite the lies you read and hear, telling you that American consumers “are repairing their balance sheets,” the truth is total household debts in this country have fallen by a mere 4.5% from the record peak at the height of the bubble a few years ago. They are still 20% higher than they were as recently as 2005, and twice what they were in 1999. According to the Federal Reserve, consumer credit levels are rising. And according to the Commerce Department, households are saving less than 4% of their disposable incomes — a fraction of the levels seen decades ago, and well down even from 6% or more seen in 2008-9.
Read his full article here and be warned for bad news on the horizon: 10 reasons the crisis isn’t over
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