![[C]urrently consumers owe $13 trillion when the GDP is $13 trillion. That 100% of GDP owed by individuals. That is a ton. […] That chart is the most striking piece of evidence I have that what is happening to us is something that goes way beyond toxic assets in banks. It’s something that has little to do with the mechanics of mortgage securitization or ethics on Wall Street or anything else. It says the problem is us. The problem is not the banks, greedy though they may be, overpaid though they may be. The problem is us. We have overborrowed. We’ve been living very high on the hog. Our standard of living has been rising dramatically in the last 25 years and we have been borrowing much of the money needed to make that prosperity happen.
- David Beim, Finance and Economics, Columbia Business School
Sorry to say it, but we are our own problem.
(via)](http://www.tumblr.com/photo/1280/ohjessicamarie/82423749/1/jN84ku3Bskiqpg957Ut3Y3nx)
[C]urrently consumers owe $13 trillion when the GDP is $13 trillion. That 100% of GDP owed by individuals. That is a ton. […] That chart is the most striking piece of evidence I have that what is happening to us is something that goes way beyond toxic assets in banks. It’s something that has little to do with the mechanics of mortgage securitization or ethics on Wall Street or anything else. It says the problem is us. The problem is not the banks, greedy though they may be, overpaid though they may be. The problem is us. We have overborrowed. We’ve been living very high on the hog. Our standard of living has been rising dramatically in the last 25 years and we have been borrowing much of the money needed to make that prosperity happen.
- David Beim, Finance and Economics, Columbia Business School
Sorry to say it, but we are our own problem.
(via)
