The Debt Discussion

I have a special appreciation of German economic folks.  They sit down and review thousands of reports, then produce an exceptional report on the positives or negatives of German consumers.

This week?  There's a fresh new article over at the Wiesbaden Kurier (the local newspaper), which details the debt ratio of the local folks.

In the consumer world....there is debt, and then there is DEBT.  They can measure this business down to the ninth degree now, and you could be in really serious DEBT....and ever realizing it.

Here in Wiesbaden.....one out of every six adults....are mired so deeply into debt....that they will never be able to exit it and live a good life.  It's a pretty bad statistic....if you think about it.

The folks in Frankfurt?  Roughly eleven percent of the adult population are mired deeply into debt.
These economic guys even broke it down into postal codes....which is amazing.  Here on the northeast end of Wiesbaden....there are several upscale neighborhoods....like my village of Naurod.  This little village of roughly 4,000 residents.....was roughly around nine percent on the degree of debt.  Basically, they were mostly all living within the means of income.

I live in a nice little village, and have always come to note that the houses are kept in great condition....fine cars line up the streets of the village...and there's virtually no crime.

The worst area within the region for debt?  It's a curious thing....it's the Westend.  This is an area west of the shopping district, and you'd describe it as mostly a working class neighborhood area.  There, the debt percentage goes up around twenty-eight percent....roughly one out of every three residents are facing a major problem in life...at least economically.

Course, this all comes around to the two issues revolving around debt.  You have to have a decent paying job, and live within your means.  The folks in my village kinda fit that role model....but only because of a fair number of professional skill folks, who can afford the half-million Euro homes in the town.  They make enough....to stay above the debt level.

The Westend crowd?  It's a working class area.  This is where your bartenders, your cooks, your waitresses, your sales clerks, and your truck-drivers all live.

It's hard to be enthusiastic about debt.  People rarely resolve debt issues, and generally, you only get deeper into debt unless some relative passes on and leaves you capital to clean up your mess.  I'm guessing these economic experts sit at a pub at the end of such a project, sipping a beer, and wondering if they take this data, invent some type process, and dissolve debt overnight.  It might take more than one or two beers though.