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> Consumer balance sheets are strong.

Consumer debt is at record highs for overall debt, and household credit card debt is climbing towards record levels.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/05/10/hou...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/05/10/con...

The fastest-growing (and largest) category of that debt was mortgage debt, which is probably a positive economic indicator if anything, though note that that's based on Q1 data. Household debt servicing costs as a percent of disposable income are still lower than at any point between 1980 (the earliest data available) and the start of the pandemic. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TDSP

Also keep in mind that those debt figures are in nominal USD. One positive effect of inflation is that it reduces the real cost of paying off debt.

Is this a positive effect? I think it is for lower inflation rates, but above a certain threshold the borrowing can get out of hand, people will go and get more loans, which will drive prices higher. Eventually the bubble pops and people go underwater.

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