Mis-Reading the Recession?

The narrative is that this recession is driven by a credit crunch. So why is consumer lending arguably stronger than in any of the past 9 recessions?

[see link for graph]

Some suggestion from the article’s comments:

link:
Securitization market became a big part of consumer finance, and is now largely gone. I don’t know that it’s reflected in these numbers
February 20, 2009, 1:46 pm

m:
As businesses deleverage, which they are doing, they won’t be able to offer as much credit to consumers. The business credit crunch may not have flowed through to consumers yet.
February 20, 2009, 5:07 pm

TXJim:
People still employed using credit to pay bills.
February 20, 2009, 10:01 pm

TXJim:
ps…and large purchases of ammo and MRE’s.
February 20, 2009, 10:02 pm