It will be 2008/9 on steroids. The US will have the choice of letting banks/lenders fail or just start up the printing presses. I’m glad I’ve got my precious metals:
Not surprising really:
A record 19% of new car buyers now pay $1,000+ monthly, up from under 7% three years ago, as average loan amounts hit $43,582 over 68.9 months.
U.S. credit card debt hit $1.25 trillion in Q1 2026, with average balances up 2.3% year over year.
Student loan debt in the United States totals $1.833 trillion; annual growth resumes following a decline in 2023-24.
Well, yes. The link tells us that household debt increased by $18 billion from Q125 to Q126. Total household debt is $18.8 trillion, meaning it was an annual increase of less than 0.1%.
I have no illusions that any kids, or anybody will ever “pay off” the debt. One of two things will happen: there will be some sort of catastrophic failure: meteor, nuclear war, ranging pandemic, alien invasion, something and everybody will forget about everything.
Or: we will find ourselves in a position to pay off the debt, over time, but some politician from some party I could name will say “We can afford a tax cut” and there it goes, up in smoke. Again.