Jet Black said:
Debating the cause? Seems pretty simple. Everything is expensive, including gas. People can't afford it so they are using credit.
https://www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/u-s-consumer-credit-growth-stays-strong-in-april-11654629287
If you're right then that's a very bad omen for the markets. Instead of curtailing their spending and changing their habits, they're incurring more debt at the worst possible time. People with high credit card debts should be focusing on paying them down and eliminating them outright when the fed started raising rates. Those are variable and have been increasing. I've seen some cards as high at 24.99% which is predatory and will continue to increase, people are just putting themselves in an inescapable death spiral. This will lead to numerous defaults and bankruptcies. This will destroy their credit and will effect renters and even some job opportunities.
Unfortunately, our economy is consumer based and when that dries up because no one can borrow or buy on credit, it's going to get very ugly. It will solve the inflation problem but a lot of lower and middle class working families will suffer because they've not recognized the risk. I don't want that. It saddens me because it didn't have to be this way, but this isn't the forum to go any further.
If anyone in here knows someone that's on that path, then you should help advise them if you really care about their wellbeing.