Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Z Best Place to Talk Stocks -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: E.J. Neitz Jr who wrote (51114)	2/21/2004 6:40:02 PM
From: Carl Worth	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 53068

interesting article: "The Federal Reserve reported last week that outstanding consumer debt — excluding mortgages — rose past $2 trillion in November for the first time. That’s nearly $17,000 per household, with credit card debt alone at more than $6,200 per household." --- anyone else read that and think, 17 and 6.2, that's all? i for one would have guessed higher "Personal bankruptcies rose 26 percent from 2000 to 2002 and were on pace to hit a new record in 2003, according to the latest data available." --- or, using the same chart, bankruptcies were up about 10% from 1998 to 2002...10% up is still nothing to cheer, but nothing like cherry picking dates to help make your point...over the last many years, the number of bankruptcies is up in part due to more lawyer advertising of same, as well as what seems to be more people willing to take that route sooner, vs. the past where it was truly a last resort with a significant stigma attached...in the same vein, there are more foreclosures on real estate because with values steadily rising, the banks can get their money back quickly by foreclosing and selling the property, vs. carrying the borrower and hoping they can catch up on the payments and won't wreck the dwelling in the meantime "By early 1998 she had racked up credit card debt of more than $5,000, mostly through online purchases of computer programs that she hoped would help her make money, she said." --- maybe she should have bought wizetrade <G> "The problem is exacerbated by the easy availability of credit, with 5 billion credit card offers mailed out last year in the United States" --- i'm pretty sure i got close to 5 billion of those offers myself, so there had to be more than that