While Paul Krugman argues that Obama needs to completely nationalize the US Healthcare system (which is well on its way to being a branch of the Government already), and Arnold Kling frets about the Great Recalculation (which somehow connects unemployed real estate agents with a collapse in auto sales), and George Mason (who?) economists say whatever they need to say to get in the pages of the Grey Lady this simple graph puts the Nation's problems in a clearer perspective:
US Households cannot afford their current housing stock and have taken on more debt than they can service out of income. At the same moment, the Obama administration is taxing 30% of these same households' incomes and giving them to banks so banks can... further increase the indebtedness of these overstretched households. Banks realize the absurdity of the situation and are sitting on the reserves. But will economists spot the absurdity as well?
Its not just banks sitting on reserves. There are far fewer consumers and businesses that want to borrow a la Richard Koo.
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