So why do Americans have so much debt? I guess the easiest explanation is to quote G. Gordon Lidy: ÒWhat you subsidies you get more of.Ó The Federal Reserve Bank has been dropping interest rates. My internet connection is down otherwise I would quote some numbers about percentage rates in the 70Õs when my parents where buying houses at 13% Annual Percentage Rates (APR). Today anyone with halfway decent credit can walk into a back and get at 30 year fixed rate loan for under 5%. Just to give you some quick numbers, with a $200,000 Loan for 30 Fixed at 13%, your monthly payment would be, $2,212. Over the life of the loan you would pay almost $600,000 just in interest. The same $200,000 at 5%, the payment goes to $1,074. With the total interest paid over the life of the loan dropping to $186,509. The bank is now making $400,000 less on each loan. What has happened over the last 40 years to forced banks to give way so much income? Over the next few days I will start researching changes in regulations and actions by the Federal Reserve Bank to determine why we are so dependent on dept.