household debt

Many are unaware of this but there is an housing bubble and bust cycle ongoing right now in the euro zone core. I'm talking about the Netherlands, of course. Prices are now back to levels last seen in 2004 and still dropping. The problem in…

This is a quick piece here on the labor participation rate, following up on the piece I wrote last week about the jobs numbers not being consistent with recession. Mike Shedlock at Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis and Bill McBride at…

I have had a lot of other things on my plate and haven't been able to write as regularly as I would like. But I am going to try to increase the volume of posts by putting out more quick hits like this one that capture my macro view without…

By Sober Look Canada continues to face rising consumer debt levels. Since the post on Canadian housing risks (here), we've gotten a number of comments that Canada's housing is not overpriced (for example if measured in terms of gold). And…

A key negative side effect of persistently low rates on households is the delay of retirement. This inability of many Americans to retire on their savings because of low rates is keeping them in the workforce, limiting job opportunities for…

Case-Shiller came out with some numbers earlier today, showing they too will soon be confirming the housing recovery in the US.

I have noted a number of times in the past that household debt levels in Canada have reached worrying levels. I am not the only one on to this. Canadian central bank head Mark Carney was in the news yesterday sounding the alarm on this as…

The bullish argument that houses are now generally affordable also does not hold up on closer examination. As we have repeated ad infinitum the average household has too much debt and is in the midst of deleveraging rather than taking on…

Gary Shilling recently wrote a five-part series for Bloomberg News on the economy. His view is that GDP growth comes primarily from consumers spending from either higher income or from reduced savings and debt accumulation. In his view, the…