Danielle DiMartino
Livin' Large In Snakeville ....
Wed Mar 17 11:24:39 2004
67.30.16.170

U.S. Debt Burden Is Higher Now than During Depression, Study Says

By Danielle DiMartino, The Dallas Morning Puke - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News


Mar. 14 - The United States {define}-is shouldering a greater debt burden today than it did during the Great Depression. {how did that happen - what part did the Snakes play}

The total amount owed {to whom}– by consumers, businesses, governments and financial institutions – totaled $34.4 trillion at the end of 2003, according to the Federal Reserve {Snakes - Class A Stockholding}. The economy produced $11.3 trillion of output.

That makes the nation's debt triple its gross domestic product. In 1933, debt was about 2 1/2 times GDP, according to a study by the Gabelli Mathers mutual fund.

Then, the toxic mixture of investing with borrowed money, a stock market bubble and a shaky banking system proved too vulnerable to a sharp economic slowdown. Deflation rendered debt burdens unmanageable.

All those factors are not in place today{and the REAL situation is ?}. But the debt{to whom} situation is unhealthy, experts agree.

Consumer debt has doubled in the last 10 years, to a record $9.4 trillion.

Corporate debt is at a record $5 trillion. Federal debt is $4 trillion but set to jump to $10 trillion by 2014. Financial institutions ($11.4 trillion) account for most of the rest of total debt.

This debt bubble comes with the lowest interest rates in four decades.

When rates inevitably rise, the burden will worsen.{fairly simple} - Got A Wheelbarrow ? Some Rope ? A Shovel ?