With near saturation of Doom & Gloom headlines in the previous week, I feel that it’s important to focus on some of the positives.

Last night, amid the round the clock media coverage of the global financial crisis, CNBC aired some fairly recent data released by the Federal Reserve Board with the headlining title:  America In Debt!

Let’s face it, we all know how bad we Americans are at managing our personal finances because we are essentially scolded about it on a daily basis.

Yet, no one ever mentions how many American households are actually doing well, and possibly even thriving in this difficult time.

The Positive Side of America’s Debt

• 24% of American’s are Debt Free.  This number actually surprised me because I would have predicted somewhere in the 10% to 15% range.
• 18% of American’s have Less than $10,000 in debt.  Depending upon the type of debt, this number can be viewed as somewhat positive considering the amount of American’s carrying student loan debt, automotive debt, or other forms of so called “good debt”.

The Negative Side of America’s Debt

• The Average American Family has $79,000 in debt.
• 76% of American Families have some debt (the second slide conflicts with the first by 1%).
• 40% of American Families are in debt $50,000 or more.

In my opinion, I think that 24% of American families that are Debt Free is a rather shocking number.  One would think that everyone is so far in debt we would need a shovel to dig ourselves out or another stimulus check to stay afloat, but at least one quarter of the U.S. population is doing something correctly.

Granted, the brief amount of data in the CNBC segment does not go into more specific detail for such caveats as mortgage debt, unemployment rates, or even those affected by the sub-prime mortgage crisis, but one must admit, it contradicts some of negativity that we have seen and heard thus far.

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