Non financial business borrowing relative to nominal GDP also has followed an upward trend since the 1950s (Chart 7). During this most recent expansion, it has increased from 77 percent in 2004 to 89 percent at the end of 2007. Finally, and no less importantly, the federal government deficit is at record levels and the current trend is unsustainable (Chart 8).
As it became technologically possible to differentiate output to meet the increasingly calibrated choices that consumers now regularly make, the value of information creation and its transfer was expanded.