The Demise Of The Dollar And What To Do About It

[randallscott35]

From Minyanville Today: (an excerpt)

"1. Give the Consumer Credit

You have to give the consumer some credit. No, seriously, you have to. Because that's apparently how they're paying their bills.

Consumer borrowing increased in March by the most in four months according to the Federal Reserve's Consumer Credit figures.
Consumer credit (non-mortgage loans) to individuals increased $13.5 billion, or 6.7% at an annual rate, to $2.425 trillion, the Fed said.
Economists were expecting a more modest increase of $4 billion.
Use of revolving credit, primarily credit cards, rose at a 9.2% pace in March.
That was up from a 2.9% growth rate in February and was the biggest increase since November.
Perversely, this is good news for the economy because it shows consumers are willing to do whatever it takes to keep on paying their bills and buying stuff, even if it means turning to higher interest credit cards.
According to the Associated Press, consumer borrowing is a sign of "resilience."
"Consumers boosted their borrowing in March at the fastest pace in four months, showing resilience in the face of rising energy prices and a painful housing slump," the Associated Press reported.
While using the term "resilience" to describe a jump in consumer borrowing largely made up of credit card debt itself violates most tenets of logic, that was only the beginning.
"Consumer spending is indispensable to a healthy economy," the AP rightly said.
Then the article followed the "consumer showing resilience by borrowing at the fastest pace in four months" observation with this: "The economy grew at an anemic 1.3 percent pace in the January-to-March quarter, the weakest in four years."
So consumers "showed resilience" by borrowing at the fastest pace in four months... while the economy grew at its slowest pace in four years?
Huh?
We don't think this is resilience at all. It's desperation. "
http://www.minyanville.com/articles/print.php?a=12773