Thursday, October 13, 2005

Noteworthy Items

Three points we're told about Americans:

1. Home "ownership" amongst them is at an all time high.
2. Their savings rate hovers just shy of zero.
3. Household debt as a percentage of virtually any metric is record setting.

There's no possible way that numbers two and three could coincide with the existence of number one. In fact, number one must be rewritten to reflect a true statement. Perhaps, "Home ownership by bondholders is at an all-time high" would be fitting. Much of the fault lies with the system implemented to prevent this very scenario. Artificial interest rates, set by the Federal Reserve, have contributed to the demise of the American consumer. Until this policy changes, the overly extended consumer will continue to accrue more debt.