I posted earlier this week regarding the ersatz recent monthly retail sales numbers, which saw a huge seasonal adjustment. Since consumer spending is a huge part of our economy, those numbers get close attention. You have to have money to spend it, and increasingly, consumers have been using credit cards for that purpose. But that may be about to hit a wall. A new report says that 37% of card holders have hit or are close to their credit limits, meaning they can’t keep paying for stuff via their cards and reflecting the financial stress that many households are under. Of course, carrying credit card debt itself eats up lots of money, with interest rates of 20% or more. The stressed cardholders tend to blame inflation for their problems. Seems unlikely we will see a lot more spending by consumers, to say the least. (ZH Post)
