Debt & credit pile-on

Mr. Nocera’s column today contains this passing assertion:

I contend that this financial crisis is going to cause an entire generation to become debt-averse, as our parents were after the Depression.

Possibly so. Here’s a bunch more debt/credit thinking:

Here, Virginia Postrel makes the case that “the expansion of consumer credit is one of the great economic achievements of the past century.”

Here, Michael Mandel of BusinessWeek and Johs Worsoe of Union Bank tell Marketplace that in recent years growth was too credit-driven and behavior change is necessary.

Here, Robert Reich argues the problem hasn’t been people living beyond their means via debt, it’s been stagnant wages forcing them to take on too much debt just to keep up. (Via Marginal Utility.)

Here, Virginia Prescott of public radio show Word of Mouth interviews the maker of a film called I.O.U.S.A, which argues “America must mend its spendthrift ways or face an economic disaster of epic proportions.”

UPDATE: One more note of interest on an NPR page, here: “Since 1970, consumption in the U.S. as a percentage of GDP has been at or above 64 percent. These levels are substantially higher than the rates for Germany and Japan.” That’s not a stat I knew.