Debt Problems

Credit Card Charge-Offs Hit The Highest Level In Nearly 7 Years And Credit Card Delinquencies Hit The Highest Level In Almost 8 Years

When people are having a harder time paying their bills, that is a signal that the economy is slowing down.  This is something that we witnessed back in 2008, and it is something that is happening once again right now.  Credit card charge-offs at major U.S. banks haven’t been this high since the U.S. economy was pulling out of the last recession, and the same thing is true regarding credit card delinquencies.  So even though the mainstream media keeps telling us over and over that the U.S. economy is “booming”, the cold, hard numbers are telling us something completely different.  This is a point that I made yesterday in my article about how homelessness is absolutely exploding in New York City, and it is a point I will undoubtedly have to make many more times as long as the mainstream media feeds us this fictional narrative about a “booming economy”.  Look, the truth is that you can’t say that we have a booming economy until we have a year when the U.S. economy grows by at least 3 percent, and at this point we haven’t had that since the middle of the Bush administration. (Read More...)

12 Statistics That Prove That The U.S. Is Facing A Consumer Debt Apocalypse

In the entire history of the United States, consumers have never been in so much debt.  And that would not be a crisis as long as the vast majority of us were regularly making our debt payments, but as you will see below delinquency levels are starting to rise to extremely alarming levels.  In fact, some of the numbers that are coming in are even worse than we witnessed at any point during the last recession.  If things are this bad already, what are they going to look like once the economy really gets bad?  Because even though it appears that we are heading into a new recession, according to the Federal Reserve it has not officially begun yet.  That means that much worse is yet to come.  Just like last time, millions of Americans will likely lose their jobs, and without an income most of those that suddenly find themselves unemployed will not be able to pay their bills.  The stage is set for the largest tsunami of consumer debt defaults that this country has ever seen, and that will absolutely devastate major financial institutions all across America. (Read More...)

Deadbeat Nation: 37 Million Credit Card Accounts In The U.S. Are “Seriously Delinquent” Right Now

Is the consumer debt bubble finally starting to burst?  If the latest numbers on delinquent credit card accounts are any indication, that appears to be precisely what is happening.  As I noted the other day, Americans currently have 480 million credit cards, and they are carrying 870 billion dollars worth of balances on those cards.  That is one giant pile of debt, but there won’t be a problem as long as the vast majority of Americans regularly make their credit card payments.  Unfortunately, the number of credit card accounts that are delinquent has been steadily rising, and now we are being told that the number of “seriously delinquent” accounts has shot up to 37 million… (Read More...)

Sorry AOC, A Stunning New Poll Has Found That Public Support For Capitalism Is Growing In America

The meteoric rise of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other young progressive politicians has led many to believe that the American public must be warming up to socialism.  But what if that isn’t true at all?  Certainly there is a certain segment of the population that absolutely embraces the message that AOC, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and other socialists are preaching, but could it be possible that the American people as a whole are actually moving in the opposite direction?  According to a shocking Fox News poll that just came out, the percentage of Americans that want the government to leave them alone is going up, and the percentage of Americans that want the government to lend them a hand is going down… (Read More...)

10 Signs That America Is On The Verge Of A Horrible Municipal Debt Crisis

Is America on the verge of a horrible municipal debt crisis?  Unfortunately, the answer is yes.  From coast to coast there are an increasing number of cities, towns and counties that are rapidly going broke.  Financial analyst Meredith Whitney took a lot of heat when her prediction of a municipal bond crash in 2011 did not happen, but she was not fundamentally wrong in her analysis.  A horrifying municipal debt crisis is starting to unfold right in front of our eyes.  It just did not happen as soon as she thought that it would.  When most Americans think of our “debt problem”, they think of the federal government.  But the truth is that we have hundreds and hundreds of smaller “debt problems” all across the country.  In 2012, cities such as Stockton, California and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania have already defaulted and a whole bunch of other cities and towns are headed down the exact same path.  Once we see the first major wave of municipal defaults, creditors will become much tighter with their money and that will cause even more municipalities to get into financial trouble.  This crisis could start spinning out of control at any time. (Read More...)

The United States Of Europe: A Proposed “Economic Government” Would Integrate Europe To A Degree Not Seen Since The Roman Empire

Are you ready for “The United States Of Europe”?  The integration of Europe is about to go to another level.  As the European debt crisis deepens, there are cries all over the EU for full economic integration in Europe.  On Wednesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel sent a letter to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy which stated that they want a new “economic government” for Europe to be formed.  According to the letter, Sarkozy and Merkel want the leaders of the eurozone countries to “elect” a president for the new “economic government”.  The idea would be that the president would hold twice-yearly summits to address the debt problems that Europe is facing right now.  But many pro-EU critics are already howling that Sarkozy and Merkel have not gone nearly far enough.  A whole lot of “experts” in Europe are proclaiming that without full economic integration and the creation of “eurobonds”, Europe is doomed.  Jennifer McKeown, an economist for Capital Economics, put it this way when asked what would happen if eurobonds are not created fairly soon: “The likely outcome is the eurozone ceases to exist”. (Read More...)

Now That U.S. Government Debt Has Been Downgraded, The Rest Of The World Is Calling Even Louder For A New Global Currency

For decades, the U.S. economy was so dominant compared to the rest of the world that nobody really even challenged the status of the U.S. dollar as the reserve currency of the world.  But now that U.S. government debt has been downgraded, the U.S. dollar is showing significant weakness and the U.S. economy continues to crumble, the rest of the world is questioning whether the U.S. dollar should be allowed to continue to have such a privileged position in the global marketplace.  Politicians all over the world are now openly calling for a new global currency to replace the U.S. dollar in international trade.  In fact, we are already seeing a shift away from the dollar in many areas of the globe.  A decade ago, the U.S. dollar made up approximately 70% of all foreign exchange reserves around the world.  Today, that figure is down to about 60%, and it continues to fall.  As the debt problems of the U.S. government get even deeper, and as the U.S. dollar loses even more strength, the calls for a truly global currency are going to grow even louder. (Read More...)

Our Politicians Are Selling Off Pieces Of America To Foreign Investors – And Goldman Sachs Is Helping Them Do It

All over the United States, politicians are selling off key pieces of infrastructure to foreign investors and big Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs are helping them do it.  State and local governments across the country that are drowning in debt and that are desperate for cash are increasingly turning to the “privatization” of public assets as the solution to their problems.  Pieces of infrastructure that taxpayers have already paid for such as highways, water treatment plants, libraries, parking meters, airports and power plants are being auctioned off to the highest bidder.  Most of the time what happens is that the state or local government receives a huge lump sum of cash up front for a long-term lease (usually 75 years or longer) and the foreign investors come in and soak as much revenue out of the piece of infrastructure that they possibly can.  The losers in these deals are almost always the taxpayers.  Pieces of America are literally being auctioned off just to help state and local governments minimize their debt problems for a year or two, but the consequences of these deals will be felt for decades. (Read More...)