Americans are addicted to debt. They have insatiable appetites for junk they don’t need. They for go into debt to buy cars, vacations, HDTVs, right?
No so fast. It’s the cost of a college education that is one of the biggest drivers of debt in the US. Americans today owe more in student loans than they do in credit card debt.
Same story for much of the home equity debt in the US as many parents are forced to mortgage their homes to send Junior to the ol’ alma mater.
So the next time some snooty British economist hits the US for borrowing from China in order to buy cheap Chinese goods, the argument can be made that a sizable chunk of the borrowing is going toward a higher purpose. It’s a whole separate argument whether a college degree today is worth what we pay for it...
