As a threat to the economy…
Poll: Subprime big threat to economy
Rising defaults and heavy debt pose greater risk to U.S. economy than terrorism, according to survey of business economists.
August 27 2007: 4:42 AM EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The risk of massive defaults on subprime mortgages and heavy debts now poses a bigger threat to U.S. economic prosperity than terrorism, a panel of U.S. business economists said on Monday.
“The combined threat of subprime loan defaults and excessive indebtedness has supplanted terrorism and the Middle East as the biggest short-term threat to the U.S. economy,” the National Association for Business Economics said.
The conclusion was based on a survey of 258 NABE members conducted between July 24 and Aug. 14 and updates one done in March.
Only 20 percent of members said terrorism was now their top concern, compared with 35 percent in March.
“Meanwhile, 18 percent of those surveyed pointed to the effects of the subprime debacle as their biggest concern, and the related issue of ‘excessive household and/or corporate debt’ was cited by another 14 percent,” NABE said.
Too much debt in a mature econmy…bad news…