© Wealthydebates
Nowhere has the unequal nature of the post-banking-crisis recovery raised more concerns for the long-term sustainability of the U.S. economy than in the clear rise of non-discretionary consumer credit.
While the "haves" have fully returned to their pre-crisis behavior of paying for everything from higher education, cars and luxury homes with cash, and fully leveraging their investment portfolios, the rest of the consumer sector has changed dramatically over the past six years.
Upper-middle class "aspirational wealthy" families who were overexposed to the housing bubble continue to see debt of all kinds as a negative. Rather than using lower
interest rates to purchase larger homes, if not vacation homes, they have instead opted to convert their 30-year mortgages to 10- and 15-year loans with essentially equal monthly payments terms. Lower interest rates have translated into faster loan amortization rather than economic growth. Well into the recovery, the focus of the upper-middle class remains on less, rather than more, credit, and - thanks to demographics - less, rather than more, home, too.
Comment: Oldman is clever. Unless he was coerced into writing the apology, it looks like a subtle way of reinforcing the points he made in the Playboy interview. Yes, the "Jews own Hollywood" (see: Who runs Hollywood? C'mon), and yes, celebrities and people of influence are held to a ridiculous double standard of fawning at the feet of organizations like the ADL with obsequious apologies.