The American middle class is falling deeper into debt to maintain a middle-class lifestyle.
Cars, college, houses and medical care have become steadily more costly, but incomes have been largely stagnant for two decades, despite a recent uptick. Filling the gap between earning and spending is an explosion of finance into nearly every corner of the consumer economy.
Consumer debt, not counting mortgages, has climbed to $4 trillion—higher than it has ever been even after adjusting for inflation. Mortgage debt slid after the financial crisis a decade ago but is rebounding.
“American middle class is falling deeper into debt to maintain a middle-class lifestyle…Non-housing consumer debt surged by $1 trillion in real terms between 2013 and 2019 while housing debt increased by just half that” https://t.co/1nfRk5q13l pic.twitter.com/HDCb4N8zjw
— Trevor Noren (@trevornoren) August 1, 2019