The Federal Reserve Bulletin reports that, in the United States, installment loan debt owed by individuals in 1970 amounted to $105.5 billion. By 1980, this had tripled to $313.5 billion. And according to The Wall Street Journal, installment debt had increased to some $418 billion by May 1984.

According to the Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1984, the amount of money borrowed by the United States government continues to increase. Money borrowed, or public debt, increased from $43 billion in 1940 to a staggering $1.1 trillion dollars in 1982. Just the interest on this debt increased from $1 billion in 1940 to $117 billion in 1982.