Mound City

I missed this editorial in the Post-Dispatch the other day, but it hits on two important topics: the potential real estate bubble and the growing national debt. Even better, they link the two together. Some have drawn attention to one or the other, but the two are linked.

Both Americans and the nation are in debt up to our eyeballs. A population willing to rack up debt to pay for its consumption is not likely to spend much time worrying when their government does the same. However, eventually bills come due.

We talk a good game when it comes to fiscal responsibility, but the truth is that we rarely follow our own advice. The economy runs on consumption which is financed by debt (home equity loans, credit cards, etc.), the government also runs on debt (treasury bonds continuously purchased by Asian central banks). The question is...what happens when we get behind or the creditors are no longer willing to extend their credit? For individuals it means bankruptcy and years spent trying to get out of the hole (before the current Congress changed it, individuals could write off certain amounts of debt, now it never goes away). For the nation it means a recession.

Previously we all strived to save money, both individually and nationally, now we have a miniscule savings rate and an administration that has tossed off the goal of achieving surpluses. We may be able to get by on this path, as long as the line of credit continues. If something were to destabilize things, however, we may find ourselves looking up out of a very deep hole.

- Murphy