In the WSJ today, George Melloan notes:
"Writing in the latest Fortune magazine, Cait Murphy notes that lower income families seem to be ones most saddled with debt. She notes that 'subprime debt--that is, credit extended to risky borrowers--has zoomed from $62 bn in 1993 to almost $400 bn now, and defaults are rising fast. But she also observes that families in the upper income levels seems to be managing their debts reasonably well. Judging from those findings, it may be that shareholders, who would be more likely to be in the upper-income brackets, are less likely to borrow to excess than nonshareholders."
Debt peonage and debtor prison are the future of the poor.
Melloan also thinks there has been 'no inflationary surplus of American dollars around the world because vendors willing accept them and put them to good use.'
rb