Low interest-rate policies in the loanable funds market reduce incentives to save. Perhaps it is not surprising, therefore, that bankruptcy filings for older wage earners is at an all-time high, according to a front-page article in today’s Wall Street Journal (registration required).
In 2001, for instance, per capita filings of individuals ages 45 to 54 increased 58%, to 11 per thousand, according to the study. “The curve is moving to the right,” says Elizabeth Warren, a professor at Harvard University Law School, who co-authored the study. “It reflects a more frightening reality for a wide swath of middle-class America.” [...] The number of credit-card solicitations in the U.S. grew to 4.29 billion in 2003, from 1.52 billion a decade earlier, according to Chicago research-firm Synovate Inc.’s Mail Monitor service. Last year, Federal Reserve data showed total revolving consumer debt at more than $734.1 billion, compared with $238.6 billion in 1990.
