Yes, and you're right. As a proxy for ability to absorb a change you could do much worse than perceived ability. I'm thinking more technical indicators, mortgage defaults, car loan defaults , and bankruptcy would be more informative. So far we've not seen the kind of movement in those indicators that would suggest this gs are as dire as the headline for this post would make people think. I agree though, household non mortgage debt is a big issue in Canada but so far we seem to be handling it.