"the financial health of the household sector of the US economy, is actually quite good.
...households' financial burdens, which are defined as monthly debt service payments as a percent of disposable income ...is a robust measure of debt burdens since it compares a flow (debt payments) to a flow (income). By this measure, households' debt burdens are at historically low levels, and have been for a number of years. No sign here of excessive borrowing, as there was prior to the past three recessions.
...[another] compares liabilities to assets, and by this measure household leverage is as low as it has been since the mid-1980s.
...Household net worth has reached another all-time high: $109 trillion. This has been achieved primarily by increased savings and investments in both stocks and bonds. Home price appreciation has played only a minor role, since the value of households' real estate holdings has appreciated less than 20% since the housing price peak of 2006. At the same time, total debt has increased by only 10% since 2007.
...the inflation-adjusted value of household net worth, which has also reached an all-time high. It's important to note that this measure of financial well-being has been increasing by about 3.6% per year for many decades. Recent gains are almost exactly in line with historical experience. Nothing unusual or unsustainable about this."
(At least households are in good shape dated 06/21/2019 by Scott Grannis, Chief Economist at Western Asset Management from 1979-2007)
Full article can be read here: http://scottgrannis.blogspot.com/2019/06/at-least-households-are-in-good-shape.html