A pair of Harderblog questions for 2015 were answered this week:

Will Canadian household debt levels eclipse 170% of disposable income?
The answer came from Statistics Canada this week with the announcement that household debt compared with disposable income rose to 163.7 per cent in Q3, up from 162.7 per cent in the second quarter. In his Vancouver Sun column this week, Craig Wong reaffirmed earlier reports that household debt and Canadian housing market imbalances have been key concerns for economists and policy-makers. Interesting to note that while Canadian consumer debt levels in relation to disposable income have been increasing at what many economists consider to be a dangerous and alarming rate,  U.S. patterns of household debt to GDP ratios at end of second quarter of 2015 were reported to be at 79.76 per cent.

Will the long-talked about ‘normalization’ of interest rates materialize in 2015?
It’s a tale of two economies. In the U.S., where household debt is falling and consumer confidence is rising, the Fed raised rates this week above their near-zero threshold for the first time since 2008. In Canada, we were told last week the BOC would consider pushing interest rates as much as a half percentage point into negative territory in the event of a crisis.

HT: The Greater Fool Blog