“Now, in fact, I agree that people overleveraged themselves in the last eight years, encouraged by ultra-low interest rates; that is now showing up in the DSR, which is now rising toward 15%. But I do not agree that this is the sort of financial holocaust that some argue. The housing bubble peaked in late 2005, meaning that we are now deep into the weeds of negative equity and teaser resets. This year should be the worst for mortgage performance, and yet the most recent figures show that the worst quality loans, subprime, have an overall foreclosure rate of 2% and a delinquency rate of 14%. These are not happy numbers–they represent hard times for a lot of families. And I expect that they will rise still further in the next report, due out in early June. But that’s not “demise of the middle class” level; subprime ARMS, the problem market, account for only 7% of outstanding loans.” –Megan McArdle, writing in the Atlantic, debunking the myth of the ’shrinking middle class’