Debt per person means just that. I don't know what the average American family of four is worth, but it owes $339,456. My guess is that most are going to have a hard time making the payments.
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Jim Fernandez says
My family will survive just fine. My wife and I had a budget meeting yesterday. We agreed to raise our debt ceiling. Now we can borrow more money.
Eric Kahn says
I’ll gladly send in the $7100 PP additional debt if the government will end the Obama administration upon receipt of my check. It would be a bargain.
Bill says
What does this chart look like adjusted for inflation?
Bill Waddell says
Eric,
I agree that Obama has to stop blowing outrageous sums of cash we don’t have, but the data certainly proves our debt problem is a systemic joint venture between both parties.
Bill,
Adjusting for inflation would soften the curve somewhat, but it would not change whatever conclusions you draw from the unadjusted data.
Louis Renault says
Does that chart include mortgages?
Bill Waddell says
Louis – yes, see the breakdown:
The red is the national debt divided by the number of people in the USA
The blue is the total home mortgage debt divided by the number of people in the USA
The tan is total consumer debt (including credit cards, personal loans, car loans and student loans) divided by the number of people in the USA
Tony says
The horizontal axis should vary with the length of each administration, since they have been of various lengths (2-8 years).
Also, to really judge how out of whack the mortgage portion is you need to compare it to median house price and median salary (and, yes, in some areas (especially CA), house prices compared to rent and income got seriously out of whack during Bush II — after all, a more expensive house meant more leverage on the way up!)