Consumer Credit: Awful

Courtesy of Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker

Consumer credit decreased at an annual rate of 6 percent in the third quarter of 2009. Revolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 10 percent, and nonrevolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 3-3/4 percent. In September, consumer credit decreased at an annual rate of 7-1/4 percent.

Yuck.

Here’s the graphical representation.

Nothing good in here. The non-revolving flattened out some in September (gee, you think "cash for clunkers" might have influenced August and September?) but revolving credit – that is, credit cards – continues its base jump without any appreciable change in slope.

Here’s the longer-term view:

We are a credit-based system, as are all modern monetary systems. No meaningful economic recovery can or will occur until the consumer has purged his balance sheet of the inappropriate debt he has and is once again able to earn and borrow.

If we supposedly exited the recession on or before September, it sure isn’t apparent in this report. You can put a fork in that line of garbage – it’s done.

PS: The next update of the Z1, due out in a couple of months, should be interesting….. especially the "Ponzi Finance" indicator….