New Study Indicates Young Adults Are Accumulating Less Debt

Monday morning is as good a time as ever to be reminded that the economy is still very much in a rut. In a post on the Washington Examiner's Washington Secrets blog Paul Bedard writes that the value of assets held by adult Americans has dropped by 22 percent sine 2007, according to Pew Research.

In a new analysis of American household fiscal healthiness, Pew also found that those 35 and older have a higher and out-of-whack debt-to-income ratio of 1.22, the highest in three decades.

The crash in household assets and rise in debt comes as Americans are paying more in payroll taxes and at the gas pump, an unhealthy concoction that is sapping support for Obama.

A new Economist/YouGov poll provided to Secrets found Americans split on Obama, with 47 percent approving of his job performance, 46 percent not.

The interesting discovery from the Pew Research report is that young adults are cutting debt much faster than their older counterparts, despite growing student loans. Between 2001 to 2010, 56 percent of young household saw either a decline or stabilization in their overall debt. Why are younger households accumulating less debt than previous generations? Not buying homes or cars, not getting married; in the eyes of many, delaying adulthood. On 'Real News' Monday the panel discussed what consequences this could have for the long-term economic health of the country

Watch a clip below with guest Daniel Mitchell of the Cato Institute: