Household Debt At Historic Low Levels

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One of good measure of indebtedness and risk to financial markets is the Household Debt to GDP Ratio(Percentage). Dodd Frank has not permitted the normal level of mtg lending we have experienced prior to the Sub-Prime surge. So restrictive has it been that starts at this part of the housing cycle remain the lowest since 1960. We should see something north of 1.6mil but we have ~800,000. This shows up in Household Debt to GDP as being the lowest since 2005 and no sign of having risen this cycle.

What kicks every economy into correction has always been bad debt not being able to be papered over which results in their default. This occurs when the T-Bill/10yr Treasury rate spread narrows to 0.2% or less and further lending is choked-off thus revealing the bad debt.

Financially, the US is in very good shape. It is China and other foreign markets which carry high debt. The US, being the consumption driver globally, drives the economic/economic cycle. Even with China’s debt, the US is not much at risk with the goal of lowering global tariffs. China does not control the US economy because the level they import is much less than what we import from them. Chinese investors do impact global markets when they pull capital back to China, but not economic trends.

Household Debt

Household Debt

HFA Padded

Todd Sullivan is a Massachusetts-based value investor and a General Partner in Rand Strategic Partners. He looks for investments he believes are selling for a discount to their intrinsic value given their current situation and future prospects. He holds them until that value is realized or the fundamentals change in a way that no longer support his thesis. His blog features his various ideas and commentary and he updates readers on their progress in a timely fashion. His commentary has been seen in the online versions of the Wall St. Journal, New York Times, CNN Money, Business Week, Crain’s NY, Kiplingers and other publications. He has also appeared on Fox Business News & Fox News and is a RealMoney.com contributor. His commentary on Starbucks during 2008 was recently quoted by its Founder Howard Schultz in his recent book “Onward”. In 2011 he was asked to present an investment idea at Bill Ackman’s “Harbor Investment Conference”.