Market Watch with Tom Waitt

March_28th_2012.mp3 Credit Crunch    O.K. the markets are acting well U.S. stocks are up over 12% so far in 2012; Canadian equities are up 5.4%. The years of uncertainty and fear and constant media reports of negative breaking news are fading. But what the heck happened? U.S. Total Credit Market Debt & Sector Share Breakdown (Click For Larger Picture) Stocks are in recovery mode and despite low volume and near non-existent retail demand U.S. equities are on course to challenge all time highs. But what caused the turmoil over the last 4 years and has it gone away? The U.S. Total Credit Market Debt has built up to 1930's levels and brought our capitalist society to its knees. This shows the total debts as a percentage of GDP. The differences in the debt 's composition from the 1930's to today are striking, with households, not corporates, being the problem credits. Beginning in the 1980's total debt began to expand dramatically until Total Credit Market Debt peaked at 385.7