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...While more-cautious lending practices are certainly contributing to decreased borrowing, the bigger driver is that Americans are still feeling the effects of recession the unemployment rate hit 9.4% in May - and choosing to tap credit lines less. Commerce Department figures from earlier this week show that people are now saving 5.7% of their disposable income, the highest rate in 14 years. In an April survey of senior bank-loan officers, the Fed found that demand for loans from households was down in almost every category. (Watch TIME's video of Peter Schiff trash-talking the markets...
...with borrowed money. On June 4, an executive with MasterCard suggested that people were already starting to inch in that direction. Speaking at an investor conference, he said that thus-far unreleased results of the company's monthly spending survey indicate that while people were still spending less, the rate of decline has slowed. MasterCard runs the systems that process credit- and debit-card transactions and can therefore provide a more timely read on the economy than official government statistics...
...June 4 report from Fitch Ratings provides another glimmer of stability. The company's measure of credit-card late payments fell in May, after four straight months of record highs. The rate, though, was still 40% higher than a year before, and credit-card charge-offs which happen when a lender gives up on ever being repaid did continue to rise. Fitch analysts have anticipated that eventually one out of every ten dollars in credit-card debt will be written off this way, although the drop in delinquencies may indicate that people are getting a handle on their finances more...
...paper, Australia looks like an ideal choice for young Indians seeking to further their education. The nation's vibrant democracy, high educational standards, and a perceived low crime rate have made it something of a mecca for students from the sub-continent - with some 93,000 attending courses in everything from hospitality to engineering...
...years, Ahmadinejad's government has talked about distributing "justice shares" from the profits of state-owned companies. A few weeks before the elections, for the first time, payments were made to 5.5 million of Iran's poorest. But the President's critics say he has pushed Iran's inflation rate to 25% with his "alms" policies. "They blame us for distributing potatoes," Ahmadinejad said from the stage. "I say you insult our people. They came to get potatoes, but what did they get to say, 'Death to America'?" The crowd roared in approval, and the iron railing in the front...