"As of the third quarter of 2022, the average American held $101,915 in debt, according to Experian. Keep in mind that while this number might seem staggering, it’s an average — some consumers carry more or less than this amount of debt."—USA Today
An additional $101,000+ per citizen ($260,000 per taxpayer) is calculated on the US National Debt Clock. I rounded up to the nearest thousand, but it won't be long before this number is dwarfed by ongoing spending anyway.
I was raised to avoid debt. Save up now and buy later, don't buy now and pay later. I'm sure a lot of farmers are in debt for land, machinery, and seasonal costs, but I've never known farmers to be frivolous spenders. Such debt is accepted to serve a purpose, not entered into for luxuries and leisure.
indeed, yet it seems that most people have been convinced to do the opposite. While not part of my immediate lives, some of the people I went to college with put basically everything on cards and to me this is just insanity.
you gotta hand it to the banks, they did a really good job of making us all wage slaves.
William Shakespeare, Hamlet