ML-Implode News - Americans With "Best Credit in Decades" Drive U.S. Economy (?!)

Total consumer borrowing climbed by $19.6 billion in May, the biggest gain in a year, as Americans charged more purchases on credit cards and increased school and automobile loans, Fed figures showed.
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Bank of America Corp., the second-largest U.S. lender, reported a 63 percent jump in second-quarter profit and said its credit-card issuance is the highest since 2008, while average retail spending on active card accounts rose 9 percent from a year ago.
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Affluent customers have "been the driver of the credit spend that we have been reporting over the past year," Byron Pollitt, the Foster City, California, company's chief financial officer, said on a July 24 earnings call. "In the last quarter or two, we are starting to see some participation from the next income cohort down."
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Credit demand and supply have been slow to recover because the housing rebound was delayed, unlike after most recessions, Carson said. Now home sales are rising, foreclosures have waned and banks are more willing to lend against an asset that's gaining value, he said.

We have to wonder how the "best credit in decades" could be a result of anything fundamentally "good" in an environment of elevated joblessness and Depression-era undermployment... oh well... obviously we aren't supposed to think too much about this!

Regardless, finally the credit expansion is beginning to "trickle down" to the mid-tier after mostly being an affluent affair. Rising housing prices are of course involved in this. So we're absolutely sure Bernanke is going to want to "pull the plug" post-haste (not!)...

Relevant:

Americans With "Best Credit in Decades" Drive U.S. Economy (?!)