The moment of reckoning arrived with the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Since then, aggregate consumption growth has been lackluster, as middle- and lower-income families have been forced to reduce their borrowing and pay down their debt, often through painful defaults on their homes – their primary (and often their only) asset.
而秋后算账的时刻也随着2007至2008年的金融危机而到来。自那以后，消费总量增长陷入停滞，因为中低收入家庭被迫减少借贷并清偿自身债务，而这往往是通过痛苦的住宅——也是这些家庭的主要（而且往往是唯一）财产——贷款违约行为来实现的。