U.S. household debt up 9.1% in Q3

[Robbien]

WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) - Debt levels of U.S. households increased at a 9.1 percent annual rate in the third quarter to $9.95 trillion, the Federal Reserve said Thursday.

Household net worth increased about half as fast, rising $545 billion to $46.7 trillion, the Fed said in its quarterly flow of funds report. Read the full report.

Total U.S. debt increased at a 7.4 percent annual rate to $23.6 trillion, as federal debt slowed to a 4.9 percent growth rate. Debt owed by U.S. businesses increased at a 5.1 percent rate, the fastest in five quarters.

Household mortgage debt increased at an 11.8 percent annual rate to $7.3 trillion, which was offset by higher asset values. Household real estate was worth $16.6 trillion, up more than 20 percent at an annual rate.

http://www.investors.com/breakingnews.asp?journalid=24343908&brk=1

[whistle]

1. All those debt consolidation maneuvers I'll bet...

...plus aren't the prices for homes sky-rocketing all across the country? That alone would cause a major blip in total debt.

[borlis]

4. Welcome to George Bush's America!!!!! n/t

[On the Road]

2. That is Huge!

Since I missed the last housing boom, I'm biding my time waiting for the crash. Then I'll pick up a house -- or maybe a couple -- as foreclosures.

[ozone_man]

6. Two for one sale?

It's coming, but taking it's sweet time. The next couple of years will see a large adjustment in the markets and real estate. The mounting debt will finally take it's toll. Time to pay the greenspan his interest.

[Deja Q]

7. Funny. I didn't know vultures had a taste for architecture.

:shrug:

[fertilizeonarbusto]

3. God help us

n/t

[forintegrity]

5. Funny - I could swear I saw a news article about China

yesterday saying that they expect their economy to increase by 9% next year. What a coincidence!

[ClarkUSA]

8. Bu$h is lucky China is willing to finance most of the deficit...

and Bu$h's corporate whores are reaping the rewards of both the Bu$h tax cuts
and the Chinese outsourcing.

[struggle4progress]

9. The Ownership Society: Creating a Nation of Debtors to Enrich the Few.

[cliss]

10. Some comments:

These numbers show some serious issues. And it contradicts Alan Greenslime's statement about 1 year ago where he said that US consumers "were not in debt up to their eyeballs". "They're not getting crushed under a mountain of debts which has them panting for their life." "They're fine".

Here's what I read from these numbers:

1) The debt level has gone up by 9% to an astronomical $23.6 trillion. This works out to be $81,944.44 for every man, woman and child in the US. This figure doesn't make sense. It's way too high. Notice it says 'household' debt, so it wouldn't include business debt, and so on.

2) The average household net worth is $46.7 trillion. This works out to be $162,152.77 for every man woman & child in the US. Again, this figure seems too high. Is this just a lot of paper value?

3) Notice also that the net debt is about half of net worth.

4) Most importantly: what has happened to wages in this time period? Have they gone up? I think wages have crept up a very small amount, but certainly not 9.1%. That means that the average American is living on their credit cards, or using their home equity to finance this debt.

[TahitiNut]

13. $23.6 trillion is about DOUBLE the GDP

That's insane.

[0rganism]

11. $23.6 trillion debt @ 7.4% APR --> ~$50 trillion debt in 2014

Are we ready for this?

[Delphinus]

12. Holy cow!

That's hard to believe!

Another thing hard to believe is the higher asset values on mortgages. That can't be anything but BS.