GRADUALLY THEN SUDDENLY: Consumers Hit A Brick Wall: January Credit Growth Craters As Interest Rates Soar.

Bottom line is simple: while US savings (especially excess covid savings) were spent long ago and flatlined near record lows in recent months, it was all up to credit cards and other sources of (repurposed) credit – like pretending one’s student loans are actually going to, you know, studying when instead they were used to buy iPhones, TVs, booze and onlyfans subs – to drive consumers.

However, the recent surge in rates has meant that even the indomitable US addiction to credit is finally coming to an end, and the result is a sharp slowdown in credit-funded purchases, alongside an upward inflection in savings as US consumers are realizing the good old stimmy days are gone and more money has to be set side, and thus not spent.

As the wise man said, anything that can’t go on forever will stop.