Log In
Register
Home
Topic RSS
Facebook
Twitter
Email this8:17 am
December 17, 2016
Offline
From CTV News
http://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/ris.....-1.3561085
Even debt-free Canadians could eventually feel a pinch from someone else's maxed-out credit cards, suggests research presented to senior officials at the federal housing agency.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. board members received an update in March on the country's credit and housing trends.
The presentation contained a warning: the steady climb of the household debt-to-GDP level had put Canada's long-term economic growth prospects at risk.
The document pointed to a study that argued household debt accumulation eventually hampers economic growth over the longer term, eclipsing the nearer-term benefits of consumption.
The strong expansion of household spending, encouraged by a prolonged period of historically low borrowing rates, has created concerns over Canadians' record-high debt loads.
It has also been a major driver of economic growth.
9:53 am
September 11, 2013
Offline
Couple of thoughts:
Record high debt levels have to be offset against the record high house prices. For example, a $500K mortgage plus $100K credit card debt isn't so bad if your house is worth $1M.
Also, I've been hearing about crisis debt levels of one kind or another my whole adult life. For decades now. Really. Seems to me governments that today's people elect, if needed, just haul out one of the many versions of "printing money" (or borrowing, or keeping rates low) and off we go for the next few years until another "crisis" comes, and then we print more money again and that crisis passes too. To me, the real fun will start if these apparently permanently low interest rates and all this money around leads to hyperinflation (some would say we're starting to see that in the crazy house prices in some cities, though many attribute that to foreign buyers). When significant inflation appears it can very quickly eradicate the value of money. To me, in these times buying locked-in GICs is like playing with fire.
Please write your comments in the forum.