Chart of the Day: Still in Debt

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Via Stuart Staniford, here’s a chart showing the latest figures for total outstanding household debt as a percent of disposable personal income. Bottom line: American families are still heavily overleveraged, and it doesn’t look like we’re going to get back down to pre-bubble levels until 2015 or 2016. Stuart’s conclusions:

  • US household deleveraging is a slow, painful, but orderly process.
  • It’s likely to continue for a number of years more.
  • It’s a drag on growth but is not going to cause the end of the world as we know it.  

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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