One side of Karl's brain relies on Fed data regarding the amount of outstanding debt to argue that the American consumer has not delevered.
The other side of Karl's brain argues, I think correctly, that the value of outstanding debt has been vastly overstated by banks who refuse to mark bad debts to their market value.
If the latter argument is correct, than the former cannot be. Anybody who believes the banks are lying about the value of the debt they're carrying on their books should not be relying on the banks lies for anything.
