US Debt Clock

[MotorEd]

KInda neeto

http://www.usdebtclock.org/index.html

[Ynot303]

Not too much good news on that clock...

Looks like a countdown to destruction

[steve-o]

money in = < money out. not good. freekin yanks ruined a good porion of my financial state, I have no tolerance for them at all. GREEDY GREEDY GREEDY! IT is NOT your right to own a home, its a privileage - save your money, then buy something with it not the other way around.

[MotorEd]

Oh it more than just a US phenom, click the global debt clocks...UK, Spain, Argentina...

Its fugly.

[thirtyseven]

Makes the italianrattlesnakes visa look like a beacon of fiscal responsibility!

[Zook]

money in = < money out. not good. freekin yanks ruined a good porion of my financial state, I have no tolerance for them at all. GREEDY GREEDY GREEDY! IT is NOT your right to own a home, its a privileage - save your money, then buy something with it not the other way around.

One look at the amount of personal debt in Canada (household/credit-card/line-of-credit) should be a real wakeup call for everyone up here. I get shivers because we're sprinting down the very same path that swallowed America. The only thing different is that the Gov't of Canada (that's you and me) is back-stopping a massive chunk of this debt through CMHC-insured mortgages, not the over-the-counter ABCP that vaporized U.S. banks and global investors.

According to Wiki: "CMHC will insure $813 billion via a combination of mortgage insurance and mortgage-backed securities (MBS) by the end of 2009." All this from a federal Crown Corp. that has a total asset base (fixed and liquid) of roughly $28 billion. Do the math. It's bad. Real bad. So when deadbeat Canadians finally default en-masse . . . we all get cleaved because the gov't is holding the bag.

Our buck is now a penny higher than the US greenback. You can go to Cape Coral, Fla., and buy a concrete-block-stucco (CBS) house on city water and sewer in a decent neighbourhood for the same price as a new 3/4-ton pickup truck -- about $40K. http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhom ... 8186-52165

Five years ago those homes in this sun-drenched community on the Gulf of Mexico sold for $200K or more.

If Canadian households don't stop borrowing so heavily against their home "equity" I see a northern sequel to the very thing that so badly-kneecapped our southern neighbours. Except there won't be dead banks. Instead, there will be a huge lien placed on our public trust.

[Zook]

And, almost a year to the day later; just so I could say "told you so"

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2 ... -cmhc.html

[350scott]

Zook-Time to sit back down. Jumping up and saying "I told you so" is a bit strong. Canada has not had a "northern sequel" as you predicted. The indication is that we have a developing problem, that if let to fully develop could become a "northern sequel". The fact that we have the recent history of the US leads me to hope that this problem will not be allowed to fully develop. And if the article you quoted is correct the the $813 billion number is a long way from the truth.

Also, as a proud Canadian, the insinuation that we a mass of deadbeat's running around is insulting.

[thirtyseven]

Or read this, the original article had neat charts and graphs that would banish your shivers...
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on- ... ice=mobile

[Zook]

OK, Scott. So the number is closer to $540 billion than $810 billion. Oops. My bad. And, yes, Canadians to this point have been money at paying off loans. But we've never had to borrow nearly as much as those who've borrowed to buy homes in the last 5-10 years -- some now paying mortgages that eat as much as 60 per cent of their income.

The most telling data in this latest housing salvo is: "Part of the reason the CMHC is running out of wiggle room is that in recent years, Canada's big banks have moved en masse to purchase CMHC insurance for their mortgages even where the borrowers have more than 20 per cent in equity."

What that tells me is Canadian banks are now scrambling to cover their rear ends for lending huge sums of money to people they had no business lending money to -- and that the equity hedge they were banking on in always-increasing housing prices is now showing signs of severe distress. Banks now expect defaults to increase and would rather have Canadian taxpayers cover the losses than shareholders.

We won't suffer the way the U.S. is still reeling right now, but that will be aided significantly by interest rates that are now almost assuredly going to be capped at historically low rates for many more years. As long as the mortgage payments don't increase for homes that are currently decreasing in value, we should be OK. Right?

[singletrack]

I agree with Zook`s original assessment. We`re going down the same road as the U.S., just a little later. I am in Garth Turner`s camp on this one, see http://www.greaterfool.ca/

Also, as a proud Canadian, the insinuation that we a mass of deadbeat's running around is insulting.

If you owe more than the property are you really a deadbeat for walking away? The American Mortgage Brokers Association did a strategic default at the same time they were telling the public it was morally wrong. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortgage_B ... ssociation

[thirtyseven]

So I reread this thread, and a profound thought struck me.... Where is motored?????
I see his new occupation is "sticker puter oner", and his new interest is "stickers", could it be he has sold his ktm for a scrap-book? Has he licked too many dollar-store specials and gone the way of George castanias fiancé???? Has he finally asphyxiated himself in the stench of his own noxious smell????

Motored, where are you?

[twotired]

He's back...