Hungry for Debt?

Debt trap danger lurks at the grocery checkout

Andy Spears
3 min readJul 13, 2023
Photo by WALK_ on Unsplash

$17 trillion. That’s the current total of debt held by Americans — a new record!

We’re always winning!

That total includes a staggering $1 trillion in credit card debt.

While inflation has led to soaring corporate profits — or, maybe the profit padding is part of the inflationary problem — real wages have remained stagnant.

That means less buying power.

Nevertheless, as Rally’s/Checker’s tells us: You Gotta Eat!

Enter our friends in the Buy Now, Pay Later industry.

A small-dollar credit product that became popular during the pandemic for allowing consumers to buy an item and pay for it in installments — thus stretching their uncertain dollars — Buy Now, Pay Later continues to experience remarkable market growth.

The Washington Post notes:

The $309 billion industry is projected to swell more than 25 percent by 2026, according to analytics company GlobalData.

What’s all that borrowing buying?

Groceries!

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Andy Spears
Andy Spears

Written by Andy Spears

Writer and policy advocate living in Nashville, TN —Public Policy Ph.D. — writes on education policy, consumer affairs, and more . . .