Consumer Credit: Off The Cliff!

A key measure as to whether or not the consumer is participating in the economic recovery is the net consumer credit number. That number represents the consumer buying activity for any given month and normally accounts for about 70% of buying activity in our economy.

Today's consumer credit number -- that for July -- shows that the consumer is shying away from taking on anymore debt and they are doing it in droves. Economists had expected credit to be down by about $4 billion dollars. But, the actual number was more than 5 times that at a negative $21.6 billion for July (Click to See Full Story: "Fed: consumers cut debt by record $21.6B in July").

That's horrible and it is just more evidence that the Obama stimulus isn't working and that this recession hasn't turned the corner yet.