I noted today that the total of outstandings on home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) was $460 billion, up a mere 46% from this time last year.

Presumably the gradual increase in mortgage rates versus last year has led some who would otherwise have refinanced to use a HELOC instead, thus avoiding the need to refi at a higher rate than their last refi. In other news, the government increased its debt limit by nearly a trillion dollars.

Both the government and the people are living beyond their means. Sure, the economy appears to be growing because consumers are spending. But they are spending other people’s money, savings borrowed from abroad at the rate of $2.5 billion per day. Someday, those debts will fall due. The smoke will disappear and the mirrors will be broken. The economic disaster that will result from the failure to save and invest will be revealed. And it will not be pretty. Steve Roach’s economic Armageddon. The next Great Depression.