Seeking to Understand

CNN is reporting that there was a drop in consumer credit in October. (I assume the reason they are just now talking about October is because the numbers for these sorts of things are a few months lagged.) I think that’s great! Consumers have been using far, far too much personal credit for years. The best thing about the financial crisis is how many people have actually took action and changed their behavior for the better.

Humorously, though, they open with this line,

Consumer borrowing unexpectedly decreased in October as the weak economy continued to weigh on household budgets.

Unexpected? Really? After telling us 24 hours a day that we were in a “credit crunch” where getting credit was “hard,” they felt that people having used less credit was still unexpected?! Was CNN not watching the news?