[PEN-L:28335] Re: Consumer Credit Card Debt

[Waistline2@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 7/22/02 10:37:05 AM Pacific Daylight Time, ccnation@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:


>        The interesting dilemma of finance capital is that, on average, only about 3.5-4.0 percent of consumer credit card accounts are delinquent.  Consumer borrowers of the world could unite and have a debt payment strike/moratorium and bring these financial divisions to their knees.  If only ten percent of consumer credit card accounts were in default, it could create a major financial crisis--such is the nature of the tyranny of the minority in post-industrial capitalism.  And, by the way, some of the reasons that credit cards continue to be so profitable is: (1) consolidation (top ten corps account for 80% of outstanding credit card debt; (2) resale of consumer debt through securitarized bond sales throughout the global capital markets; (3) cross-marketing of other products through conglomerate subsidiaries and/or allied retailers; (4) international expansion (China is #2 market after US and Korea is the fastest growing ma!
> r! ket) and (5) squeeze of indebted consumers through rising nonfinance fees and 'sticky' interest rates due to fewer competitors and scarcity of new consumer markets (except for college student 'niche').
>         By the way, I am an expert witness in a civil suit against FIRSTUSA which has Enron like potential if the judge permits our discovery requests.  Also, it appears that the market "access" that U.S. corps have been demanding and are receiving under WTO is now becoming a concern rather than a panacea because European and Asian households are not particularly interested in increasing consumption of American products.  As a result, some new international projects are being formed with the objective of how to increase U.S. exports and thus reduce the U.S. trade deficit.  Social scientists are being recruited to study global trends in consumer savings, cultural impediments to willingness to incur 'American style" debt, and marketing campaigns that successfully encourage greater consumer consumption without accompanying increases in household income.


Love that data.

I am old school dog - Leninist bla, bla, bla.

Classical crisis of capital. The consumer is of course the Hero of the economy but a Hero ain't nothing but a sandwich - to be eaten alive by capital.  

Keep that data coming. I am going to die owing everybody everything.

Melvin P.