March 14, 2009
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News: Iowa Gets the Trophy This Time.
In these struggling times when the winner is chosen as being the lesser of the losers, frugality and common sense have come to the aid of Iowa for being least in credit card debt in our nation. This is not for having an easier road through our nation's washed-out economy. It's because of their tempered Midwest conservative lifestyle. Even though new income has fallen here just as it has elsewhere, Iowans have hunkered down and resisted the convenient trap of escaping to added credit card debt. In fact, they've even managed to reduce credit card debt during these troubled times.
The study conducted by TransUnion showed the average Iowan credit card debt at close of 2008 to be $4,267. Measured from the year before, the figure had fallen only 1$ on average. But, measured from the quarter before (3Q 2008), their average credit card debt had fallen a full $10 for the state.
This has not been an easy feat. Unemployment continues to soar in Iowa as it does elsewhere and the struggle to control rising credit card debt will be on-going as the bills keep piling up and the cash runs dry. Certainly, they could not be faulted for using the only liquidity they have left (credit cards), but they tend to be more stout in their resolve to go without some of the luxury in order to maintain fiscal stability (except for the party crowd at Iowa State, of course. I hear they can get pretty wild.)
Recall that last year Iowa was the hardest hit state in the nation for the untold catastrophic flooding that occurred. The Cedar River hadn't recorded a serious flood in 100 years. So, very few people had flood insurance. Almost overnight, it seemed like that river rose about 40 feet, filling homes and businesses downtown with about 20 feet of mud. When the water went away, the mud did not. It just dried right there. With the lame Dubya still in office, these people weren't any better off the Katrina victims. Which is easier, simply rebuilding a house or shoveling out 20 feet of mud first and then rebuilding the house? These people have known hardship and yet, have withstood the temptation of unbridled credit card debt to ‘fix it'. Still, it did take it's toll.