STUDENT LOANS EXPLODING - ALL OTHER CREDIT SPENDING DECLINING

DON'T BELIEVE THE MFM SPIN: TODAY'S CREDIT/DEBT REPORT (JANUARY DATA FROM THE FED)  IS STUNNINGLY BAD AND SHOWS DEEP WEAKNESS IN THE US ECONOMY:

One look at the just released consumer credit data would make one believe that the US consumer is getting back into it and the velocity of money is finally starting to ramp up: after all the headline January number came at a whopping +$17.8 billion on expectations of +10.5 billion. Nothing could be further from the truth... 

... when spread by sources of credit, the only place where credit came from was the US government, which funded a near record $28 billion, all of it going into student loans, even as every other source of credit declined in the month! If this is not the most blatant gaming of headlines, we don't know what is.

WE'RE HEADED FOR THE CLIFF AGAIN...

UPDATE#1 (HUFFPO!):

Thought the mortgage crisis was a rough ride? Buckle up for the next financial crisis. 

Student-loan debt may be the next major U.S.-asset bubble to burst, according to Standard & Poor's. 

The problem: colleges and universities are hamstrung with lower endowments, while students have increasingly lower prospects of ever paying back their loans. Student debt now outpaces credit-card debt, approaching $1 trillion for the first time. 

The Project on Student Debt found that in 2008, 67 percent of college students at four-year universities were graduating with student-loan debt. That number is even higher for students at private nonprofit and for-profit colleges and universities. 

"Student-loan debt has ballooned and may turn into a bubble," the S&P said, as reported by Bloomberg. "There are more defaults and downgrades for some student-loan asset-backed securities."

UPDATE#2: THE GLOBAL CLIFF TOO:

THE GREEK BOND-SWAP IS A HOAX-  (DESIGNED TO DELAY THE INEVITABLE COLLAPSE UNTIL IT'S MORE CONVENIENT!) - THAT THE MARKETS AIN'T GULLIBLE ENOUGH TO BELIEVE:

The yield on the one year Greek Government bond has topped 1,135%. This means that no matter what commitments are made by the Greek government, the markets believe that the nation is insolvent and the great swap does nothing to address the long term issues. ...

... Sadly for the people of Greece leadership of that nation seems hell bent on sacrificing its sovereignty, its independence, and its citizens to pacify a group of dirty old banksters located in Brussels and Berlin....

RTWT!