Interesting info found on Yahoo finance:
biz.yahoo.com
"Throughout history if you didn't have the drachma, you literally could be enslaved by your debt, and you'd become the property of your creditor."
[I'd argue that its still true today. mish]
Some other snips:
Some 1.6 million U.S. households -- one of every 73 -- filed for bankruptcy in 2003.
Average per household debt in the U.S., not counting mortgage debt, is about $14,500 -- especially noteworthy because before the 1930s, most middle and working class people had no major debts. Banks would not lend to them; they rented their homes and if they did own a house, it was paid for as it was being built.
Some 40 percent of American families annually spend more than they earn.
About 60 percent of active credit card accounts are not paid off monthly.
Average card debt among people who have at least one card is $9,205 -- triple what it was in 1990.
Average personal wealth of a 50-year-old American, including home equity: less than $40,000.
[In other words, negative, after the bubble collapses. mish]
The average interest rate on credit cards is 18.9 percent.
Last year the credit card industry took in $43 billion in card fees.
The average graduate student has six credit cards and one in seven owes more than $15,000.
The personal savings rate in the United States has dropped from 8 percent in the 1980s to just under 2 percent since 2000.
Medical debts sink the ship in one of every 20 bankruptcies. Typical health care debt: $25,000. Typical victim: a senior on a fixed income. Typical scenario: pricey prescriptions bought on high-interest credit cards. |
