The State of The American Debt Slaves, Q4 2019
The comments below are an edited and abridged synopsis of an article by Wolf Richter
Consumer debt—student loans, auto loans, and revolving credit such as credit cards and personal loans but excluding housing-related debts such as mortgages and HELOCs—jumped by $187 billion in the fourth quarter 2019 compared to a year earlier (4.7%) to a record $4.2 trillion, according to Federal Reserve data released in February.
Richter discusses non-housing consumer debt; how much all this borrowing and spending contributed to GDP; credit cards and other revolving credit; auto loans and leases—a hiccup for automakers; and student loans—the big hiccup.