Credit Card Fueled Binges No Longer Bring A Smile To US Consumers' Faces
To be happy is to be confident. And at least until the recent past, in America to be confident, meant to have purchasing power, which pretty much always, at least for the bulk of the population, meant to lever up, i.e., to take on debt and to spend it on worthless crap. Well, as we reported earlier this week, in December the US population literally jumped head first right back into the credit frenzy, experiencing the largest jump in unadjusted consumer credit since the peak of the credit bubble. however, very much contrary to naive interpretations that this would reignite the economy, as Lance Roberts explained, and as Charles Hugh Smith confirmed showing plunging gasoline usage, it merely indicated that with savings again at record lows, US consumer have no choice but to dig deep into their credit card stash merely to pay for staples, and non-discretionary spending. And one hardly is happy when one purchases a roll of toiler paper (not to be confused with US Treasurys - there is far less than 15.4 trillion pieces of toiler paper in the world) on credit. Sure enough, as the following chart from John Lohman demonstrates, the recent (mini) reincarnation (because it will last at most a month or two) of the consumer credit bubble has done absolutely nothing for consumer confidence. In fact, today's UMichigan data showed a decline in confidence. Which shows all one needs to know about just what the true state of the US consumer is...
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I ride a bike to work whenever possible, weather and scedule permitting. Blame some of the gas usage slump on me.
I do the same thing and it only takes me 20 minutes more since I take the metro part of the way but I have been dropped twice in 3 years and if I really get hurt by a dumbass driver I'm going to wish I had just driven!!!
I drive my bike at least once a month... I try to ride it once a month and.... When it doesn't rain of course and..... And it isn't to cold and... Or hot.... And windy.... So i drove my bike last year and it was kind of fun. I think i might even do it this year also!
I ride my bicycle, roller skate, don't drive no car
Don't go fast, but I go pretty far
Sometimes I feel that you're avoiding me
I'm okay alone, but you've got something I need.
Oh I've got a brand new pair of roller skates, you've got a brand new key.
I was going to link the Queen video for 'Bicycle Race' but YouTube won't let me view it without signing in or creating an account that it might be inappropriate for some users...
No, I'm not joking!
DavidC
Here are some statisitcs from 2005 regarding the number of people bicycling to work. Did these numbers suddenly double, triple, quadruple? Did Portland ban cars altogether?
Percent of Trips to Work by Bicycle in Largest U.S. CitiesBicycling rates are higher in cities than throughout states. Employees in major U.S. cities are 1.7 times more likely to bike to work than those in the states surveyed. Portland, OR has the highest share of those who bike to work with 3.47 percent of all trips to work by bicycle, followed by Minneapolis (with 2.42 percent) and Seattle (at 2.31 percent). Kansas City has the lowest bike share of work trips of all major U.S. cities with only 0.02 percent of work trips by bike.
http://trafficsafety.org/safety/sharing/bike/bike-facts/bicycling-to-work
And do people really bike to work in Minneapolis in the middle of winter?
I ride my bike to the grocery store to buy rice and beans becasue I'm unemployed.
As I pointed out, Charles Hugh Smith is perpetually weak in analyzing matters oil relevant.
No, gasoline use did not fall because discretionary driving fell. That's absurd. Sunday afternoon drives with the family ended decades ago.
The reason we are seeing a fall in gas use is 1) unemployment and consequent reduction in commutes and 2) most importantly, compression of household total means 1 trip to the grocery store to stock up on necessities for 1household, not 3 or 4 households.
The december credit binge can be laid at the feet of old st. nick. Credit cards are used for travel and presents. December should be the peak,except for those who buy groceries and diapers with plastic.
Unsecured debt,aka credit cards will be the last thing the unemployed stop using but they have to be close to banging up against their credit limit by now.
So will the riots of the summer of 2012 be bigger than the riots of the summer of 2013?
People are reaching their limits, things are unravelling. desperation is being felt, fear cannot be far away. Desperate people will do desperate things.
Spas you are far too witty to be unemployed.....
Hey, how's the "KITO 2012 SNAP BEER" presidential campaign coming along?
The only guy I hear less about in the MSM is some dude named Ron Paul.
I keep looking for "Wit Wanted" advertisements in the paper, but so far nuthin'. Society rarely needs more than one Oscar Wilde at a time.
have you tried re-elect-obama.com? he is the funniest thing i've seen in decades - and he needs some new writers.
Joe Pine type TV anchors are always in demand if you can make the transmogrification...
Spastica totally rocks.
Rice and beans are excellent - almost nutritionally complete. Unfortunately, if that rice you are buying is grown in the southeast United States - it has a "perfectly safe" level of inorganic arsenic from pesticides used decades ago.
FDA denied it, then tried covered it up, then to spin it, now ignores it.
Gotta love America.
Brown basmati seems better for health. Plus, rice should be soaked in a food grade hydrogen peroxide/water combo prior to cooking to improve digestibility and kill mold from processing and storage.
You would be amazed how much mold is on most rice, walnuts and barley. Good quality beans aren't too bad.
Actually, I switched from rice to buckwheat groats. A little more expensive, but nutritionally superior, I think.
beans are easy to grow and return nitrogen to the soil. Fava beans are amazingly tough. They can grow right through a northwest winter and you can eat the leaves. Brown rice has the protein as well.
arsenic isn't so bad - you can develop an immunity to it. check out the ages old arsenic eaters assasins from mediteranean region.
.
Whereas Indian and Chinese rice is eco-friendly, safe and nutritious? Their use of pesticides is like ours in the 60's. In fact, the difference between usage now and then is stark since many rice types are modified against weeds.
Riding a bike in Las Vegas is considered a suicide gesture....actually it is closer to an attempt
Hope & Change with the Democrat's muslim.
I ride my bike to the grocery store to buy rice and beans becasue I'm unemployed.
Hey. At least you're part of the % that has a bike!
SemperFord,
i think it's great that you ride your bike to work but i take issue with the stupid driver comment. it's been my experience that it's the bike riders that have the 'stupid' label. just today i almost ran over a biker......he was riding on the side walk going in the wrong direction. As i was pulling out he decieded to come off the side walk into oncoming traffic and pass in front of me as i was pulling out......he'd gotten really hurt had i not slammed on the breaks (and almost got rearended as someone else was behind me).
bike riders here in socal are out of control and ride as if they are a mix of pedistrain and automobile.....
just sayin.
I hit some shit on a bridge that was never cleaned up in the dark and did a face plant right in front of a heavy haul.
So there I lay hearing the air brakes and jacobs brakes kick in coming down on me figuring I was finished.
Truck driver got it stopped 10 feet from me.
I told him I was a driver too and he asked me what the *&^% am I doing on a *&^% bike?
I still have that bike. It's over 30 years old and unfit *As I am) for any more riding.
I use credit as a weapon because the account it draws from has cash in it. No worries.
Hey gas and insurance ain't cheap y'know. I walk to work, although it's getting mighty cold these days.
I gave up my car in august albeit not by choice. Americans should take the initiative and get used to riding a bike before its necessary.
When you think about all the taxes and gov't fees that a car generates:
The US economy will collapse together with the Eurozone. ArmadaMarkets daily market digest said the most important development would be to watch Greek austerity package being approved this weekend. Greeks will most likely come to the streets en masse.
I drive my motorscooter if at all possible, which is a lot. So far, I have put 22,000 miles on it in three years and that is going to go up. Try 70 mpg for a change. My truck which gets only 17 mpg, stays at home unless I need it for some heavy duty work.
Hear, Hear. I got one of those cheap, generic, chinese scooters about 7 months ago. I crack up at all of the people in their giant trucks that gun it to pass me, only to have me catch up to them at the next red light.
you have it right mister mlbs - but they have much bigger 'things' then you do. and tv advertising has made most of us feel smaller with out big things.
my tv is 80 inches. my freezer can handle two sides of beef. my washing machine does thirty loads. my wife has boobs the size of texas. (they aren't real - but does that matter?) :)
buy more, spend more and wait for obama bailouts.
Boobs are a lot like Texas or should I say, parts of Texas. Some are filled with valuable fluids, others have dried out. Some are hotter than others but overall, as they get older, many tend to move south.
Same here. If the weather is nice, I can commute to work and back, including going out or home for lunch, for a week on a gallon of gas. At my previous job I probably used 3 gal/day in city traffic.
I had a freind who bought one of those electric scooters to go around town ,in 12 months she put over 17,000 miles on it (on the same batts as well) it was chinese and i cannot say it was a pice of shit.
I drive my boat on weekends, twin 502's, 415 horsepower each, 60 gallon per hour consumption. I love American made big blocks, brings a smile to my face only matched by the exhaust note! I cannot be credited for a plummeting fuel usage.
As for the article, credit cards now being used to for utilities, so says Rosenberg....this won't end well.
Gotta pay for alcohol and firearms somehow.
It'd be interesting to see some sort of correlation between so-called survivalist items being purchased and the surge in spending (or debt accrual). If this is a last gasp splurge before cards are maxed out, essentials (and the means to protect them) are probably top of the list for a lot of people...
Yes it would. I remember reading somewhere that guns were a popular gift for Christmas.
I bought another gun 3 weeks ago. The gun shop was doing a brisk business that day
that's because they remind us of Jesus
VERY salient point there, Reformed Sheep, I would love to see that correlation.
I wonder just how high the coefficient would be.
It would completely change the look of things wouldn't it?
Don't you mean:
Alcohol
Tobacco
Firearms
(who brought the chips?...)
Vindication is sweet.
Other fun facts about credit cards :
http://www.blacklistednews.com/Debt_Slavery%3A_30_Facts_About_Debt_In_Am...
#1 Today, 46% of all Americans carry a credit card balance from month to month.
#4 Right now, there are more than 600 million active credit cards in the United States.
#5 For households that have credit card debt, the average amount of credit card debt is an astounding $15,799.
#6 If you can believe it, one out of every seven Americans has at least 10 credit cards.
#9 There is one credit card company out there, First Premier, that charges interest rates of up to 49.9 percent. Amazingly, First Premier has 2.6 million customers.
Deadbeat, here. Wife and I never carry cc debt.
Several years ago I signed up for a Costco / American Express cc that has no annual fee. Asked the sales lady how they expected to make $$ on me and she said "They hope you carry a balance and only pay the minimum." Yea, like that would ever happen...
Who else is a deadbeat - the term credit card companies use for folks who never carry a balance...????? Have prudly been a deadbeat since the day I got my first cc.
I am. Never had a credit card.
One of my friend made 800$ in the last few years with his.
I'm definitely in the same boat as you. But my dad is definitely the king of deadbeats.
Although I think people like my dad may be skewing those numbers. It's not bad to own multiple credit cards as long as you pay them off. He has one that gives more rewards on gas. He has one that gives extra rewards on groceries. He has one that gives extra airline miles if you use it to buy airplane tickets. And then he has an Excel spreadsheet hanging over the kitchen that tells him what card to use to pay for what and which months certain cards have different rewards.
I lack his dedication.
Damn. Your dad really sticks it to the banks. Good for him!
More like he sticks it to the dumbasses who run up their cards on Apple products. Think of it being long on People Being Debt Slaves (ticker: IRDUMB)
pay your student loan off with credit cards, buy big screen TVs, guns, then declare personal bankrupcy.
Now your onto something there Aldous!
Our Lender will not take credit card as payment.
They are getting smarter.
Cash advance! Build your limit with regular payments, then strick at once!
That is what this guy did. Funny Story on Patrick.net about sticking it to the Banksters.
just get a forbearance in perpetuity and wait for the student loan principal reduction handout to get some assclown elected or keep the mob at bay.
I love that. I see Jimmy Johns written all over that!
Don't forget the ammunition.
That only works if your income justifies a cc with a limit high enough to pay off the student loans. Not the case for most.
NOW THAT'S FINANCIAL PLANING!! WAW!
TU, Me too. I've got a bp (ya, boo hiss) get 5% back for bp purchases (unfortunately, my job (fortunate to have one) requires travel.) I've got hh for the points = free Hilton stays. Never paid a penny in interest. I get $25 check every month. One free hotel a quarter. It isn’t hard. They bet you are stupid. Enough must be, or these freebies wouldn't exsist. And because I can't get a decent return on my savings, I feel compeled to get AlL tHe FReeBIES I POSSIBLEY CAN!
at the bottom of the cheerios box, there is a free toy. i eat throught it faster to get to the toy. doctor told me i'm obese. i wonder why?
sarcasm off. let's take some pride in what we do and dump the sociopaths manipulating us. if my income is x - spend x and live within your family means. if you want to buy a box of cereal - buy it. don't sell me free toys. if you are mcdonalds - sell me (the worst food possible) - but take some pride in it and don't manipulate me with 'free' monopoly' tickets to win a trillion dollars because i ate your burgers. leave the monopoly to the gamblers and make me a good product and people will purchase it.
i don't want 'free' redeem points on my credit card purchases that spur me to buy more that i don't need with money i don't have. i want to purchase what i need to live a decent llife and pay a fair price that insures the seller makes money and their employees (think apple?) don't make 70 cents an hour.
Same here. I have been using credit cards for long time and never paid a cent of interest.
For a while now, I have cash rewards card, where I get percentages back. Would be stupid not to use it...
7 years ago I over paid my MasterCard by $10 and cut it up. Every month I get a letter saying they owe me $10. It has no annual fee and they hate me the most!
My wife and I have no ccs either. Been without since about 2002. Ten years. ;-)
Bravo! There is no better way to get even with the banks than to simply get out of their system.
I bought a car awhile back for cash. The dealer didn't quite know what to do with someone who walked into the office and had cash to purchase from him.
If it wasn't so sad, it would have been funny.
Deadbeat here. I had a bad business situation a long time ago that forced to live cash-only until about 15 years ago, by which time I was 30 and had developed some habits. I have a few credit cards now but really only use the one that gives me frequent flier miles. I've set up those utilities that will do it for free to bill directly to my various cards to keep them all active and pay the balance in full each month. One of my Chase cards has me at 7.9% and a $25,000 limit. My Capital One, by contrast, has been at $1,000 and 14.9% for ten years. It's hilarious. Neither is enticing me to get on the dope train, but it's funny to see which cards try which strategies.
I'm a total deadbeat. 4 credit cards credit score 820, yeah bitchez
I am working to get a credit score of '0'.
Real success will come when they type my name in and nothing comes up.
I have one card, never carry a balance. I hope I can max it out just before the hammer falls.
Proudly deadbeat.
Proud deadbeat. I only use my two cards to make purchases, and get cash back in the process. With the cash back I, of course, buy more gold and silver.
Fuck the banksters.
Hardly driving for the past six months.
Hmm, looks like the last big spike was right around Y2K. I wonder what that means...
it doesn't mean a damn thing because it's not real.
Come on guy: you guys are not going to fall for that gasoline usage decrease are you? That number is manipulated to justify the Iran war coming in this summer. The logic is simple: less gasoline use equals less demand of crude oil from Iran, paving the way for invasion of Iran with minimal consequences. I can't wait to see that war. Pop corn please.
The reduction in gas purchases was reported elsewhere as well
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2012/02/petroleum-3-month-rolling-average-turns.html
Of course gas consumption has gone down world wide, America keeps killing everyone.
"...And one hardly is happy when one purchases a toll [sic - roll] of toiler paper on credit...."
however, said purchase with paper bills is actually a fair trade which hardly merits the expenditure of gas....and thus the plunge in gas consumption....americans have stopped going to the store for toilet paper because they are instead wiping their asses with frn in an economizing move - a move not to be confused with said bowel movements....
I'm glad I don't live in Michigan.
I drive my new Range Rover, on 22's, with the AC on and the windows down, because I can.
Of course you can, until you tap the last ounce out of that credit card
Element: Congrats, you're officially a dick.
Go for it, son.
im with you there element. fuck it. i earnt it cos im smarter than everyone else.
and anyway gas is cheap in switzerland.
Classy from Wisconsin :
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/02/10/422744/walker-settlement-bud...
Gov. Scott Walker To Use Foreclosure Settlement Money To Balance His Budget, Not Help HomeownersComing Soon--"Total Recall"--Staring Gov. Scott Walker
Tobacco money was used similarly. It was supposed to be for long-term health issues and to decrease tobacco usage.
No pile of money is safe when held for future needs by a public entity.