Comment: Dividing total debt by the number of people in the country may be like dividing the USA gun count by the population.

When you look closer just 3% of USA residents own 50% of the firearms. The majority of Americans (78%) do not have a gun.

How do debt levels vary across the population? What is the distribution across households?

My grandfather was one of the folks who killed themselves after the stock market margin calls in 1929. Not right away, but after making his family miserable for years, then leaving them to fend for themselves without him.

We always learn from our parents and grandparents, but sometimes the way we learn is by seeing what happens when they make stupid choices.

Easy credit kept factories and the stock market going in the 1920s. Then the bubble burst.