Great Economy?
More like a creeping slowdown….
According to data released last week by the ABI, US bankruptcy filings surged by 3 percent in July 2019 from July 2018. A total of 64,283 filings were reported for July, up from 62,241 for July 2018. And if the trend continues, this year’s overall total of bankruptcies is on pace to hit 796,000, far exceeding the 777,000 for last year.
Meanwhile, record American household debt, near $14 trillion including mortgages and student loans, is some $1 trillion higher than during the Great Recession of 2008. Credit card debt of $1 trillion also exceeds the 2008 peak.
Americans are spending heavily, again — and often recklessly, say analysts.
“No question about the fact that credit quality is declining,” said Dick Bove, a financial strategist at Odeon Capital Group in New York.
Bove noted how American banks have scaled back on the more stringent lending and underwriting standards that followed the 2008 financial crisis, leading banks to purge their portfolios of toxic debt….