Thank you for that reply, Thomas.
I am both dismayed and heartened by your answer--that no specific
references come to mind. They don't to me either, and I have not heard any
suggestions from others on this list or others like it.
The role of the huge and rapid increase of consumer credit--and consumer
debt--is virtually undiscussed in either the popular press or serious
economics, it seems.
Could that be true? Or am I just not finding what I am looking for which
abundantly exists?
And if consumer debt (and easy bankruptcy too, in the US, let's not
forget) is NOT discussed in serious economics, why is this? Is it because
it is too trivial an issue to consider, or too serious an issue to
consider?
When I recently serarched online for information about this, I retrieved
literally hundreds of sites all dealing with helping the reader cope with
her debt burden, and NOTHING analyzing the role of this burden (and the
"purchases" which were made "on credit) in the real economy.
Why?
And yes, Thomas, I am of the age that remembers when consumer credit was
very rare, difficult to get, and limited in its use--but also
comparatively cheap. Now, most of my mail is composed of offers for credit
cards or other lines of credit.
On Tue, 1 Jun 1999, Thomas Lunde wrote:
> Sorry Jim, no specific references come to mind. However, if you are of a
> similar age to me, you must remember that at one time you needed 25% down to
> get a mortage. Now, you can borrow your down payment on a credit card and
> you need 5% or in some cases less. These changes have come about in less
> than 40 years. Something is definetly not right, either this is the way it
> should be or that is the way it should be but both conditions cannot
> co-exist.
>
> Respectfully,
>
> Thomas Lunde
>
> ----------
> >From: Jim Dator <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >To: Thomas Lunde <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >Subject: Re: Created Unequal by James Galbraith
> >Date: Mon, May 31, 1999, 7:28 PM
> >
>
> > Thank you very much for that explanation. It was not clear to me from what
> > you originally sent that this was so, but now I see it could not have been
> > otherwise.
> >
> > I will definitely have to get the book to read more now.
> >
> > Do you (or anyone else on this list) have additional sources to recommend
> > about the role of consumer credit in both fueling the current economy, and
> > skewing it in the way Galbraith/Lunde demonstrate? I, too, feel this is
> > the big dark secret that is never discussed in these terms (to my
> > knowledge) in the general press, or politics.
> >
> >
> >
>
