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Secured on wasting assets, the promise of future earnings, or nothing at all. What could possibly go wrong?

(On the bright side this is far from the majority of debt.)

>What could possibly go wrong?

Americans are the wealthiest people in the history of mankind. Fortunes ebb and flow, but there isn't much to worry about.

Depends on your definition of wealth. Defined as "amount of time you could survive with no income", most Americans (including many in the HN crowd) aren't very wealthy at all.

Only if they insist on keeping their current (very high compared to most people in history) standard of living. A median American could survive at the standard of living of a medieval peasant indefinitely on their current assets.

Yes, but it would require one to possess a marked fondness for worms.

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