The Ballooning Deficit: Why Red Ink Is the Real Spill the U.S. Must Contend With by Brian Rezny

Consumers are deleveraging. Consumer credit contracted $9.1 billion in May, after April’s $14.9 billion contraction. And the consumers ratio of debt obligations to disposable income fell to 17.1% in the last quarter (the lowest level in almost a decade), according to Bloomberg. To put it in perspective: in early 2008 the ratio hit 18.9%. But today, consumers have pared down their obligations, and are not willing to assume more debt (credit-card use shrank by $7.4 billion). And the last time revolving credit increased was September 2008.