Credit demand has been weak this recovery. The big puzzle right now is, with optimism at record levels along with the stock market, why is credit demand starting to fall? Despite business and consumer optimism, it hasn't translated into a pickup in business investments. In the second part of today’s Big Picture, Jim discusses Obama's debt interest bomb. For the first time in eight years, interest on the national debt rose 22% in the first half of the government's fiscal year. Net interest rose 30% in the month of March alone. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports that a 1% rise in interest rates will cost the government an additional $160 billion a year in interest.
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