The Oil Drum

The 'fortunates' are not paying their credit card bills, I doubt they will be buying more houses. In fact, I gazed into my crystal ball and asked that question...'will fat cats buy more houses'...My smart azz crystal ball replied...'out houses'. If I could get my nine bucks back from that gypsy I would return the ball...alas, they broke camp long ago.

'Today it's being engraved on the back of American Express charge plates and printed on outgoing cardmember statements informing hapless business owners and vacationers from Traverse City, MI to Ocala, FL that their credit lines have been slashed, their markers called in.

According to Chenault (CEO), cardmember spending, particularly among consumers, slowed sharply during the latter part of the quarter. "Credit indicators, as we signaled a few weeks ago, deteriorated beyond our expectations," Chenault glumly intoned, adding that "by almost any measure" the U.S. economy and business environment are much weaker than the assumptions made back in January and as recently as early June.

The awful kicker, especially for the luxury box set, is that the fallout was evident across all consumer segments. "Even our longer-term superprime Cardmembers," Chenault said. Consequently,given the environment, "we'll continue to scale back some card acquisition efforts and reduce credit lines selectively in the U.S.," he added.'

http://www.minyanville.com/articles/AAPL-AXP-UPS-TXN-bac-WB/index/a/1814...