Reply #6: Be thankful the official figures are artifically low...

[regnaD kciN]

If they posted the higher figures, the Fed would "have no choice" but to drastically hike interest rates to "curb inflation," which would result in the large number of middle- and working-class Americans with high credit-card balances and no way to pay them off facing hundreds more per month in interest charges. Undoubtedly, many would have to file what-passes-for-bankruptcy-these-days, meaning that they'd lose everything they have and still have to make five more years of payments.

Actually, I'm surprised the Bush administration hasn't released the true figures for that very reason. It would be a wonderfully effective way to create a feudal society (since the presence of people willing to work for almost anything to make their court-mandated payments would allow employers to use them to replace even those workers who weren't in debt) almost instantly.

:scared: