The dimension of the challenge is enormous. The one certainty is that the resolution of this situation will require difficult choices and that the future performance of the economy will depend on those choices. No changes will be easy, as they all will involve lowering claims on resources or raising financial obligations.
2  BIS Review 163/2010  course of 2009 and 2010. The average dollar value of combined credit lines available to cardholders fell from a high near $ per cardholder in late 2008 to around $ per cardholder by the third quarter of 2010, a decline of about 20 percent.