Credit Weathered the Recession Well
AS every schoolboy knows, it was wildly inflated credit that brought on the 1929 crash. When consumer credit rose to a record $44.8 billion at the end of 1957, many an economist wondered uneasily whether history would repeat itself. Would credit, which had helped speed the postwar boom, bring on and accelerate an economic downturn? Now that the recession is waning, the answer is in. The credit structure not only surprised the experts but showed strengthening timbers that no one ever suspected it had.
As the recession picked up momentum...