BETWEEN THEIR of recent origin HOU...

BETWEEN THEIR of recent origin HOUSES, MORTgage refinancings, and shiny strange SUVs, free-spending consumers saved the U economy from a far deeper downturn last fall.

moreover now those spendy ways are causing a wee bit of matter According to David Wyss, chief economist for Standard and Poor's (S&P) in of recent origin York, Americans' debt-service burden is approaching the high flats of 1986, with 14-3 percent of households' after-tax income going toward mortgage and consumer fault payments.

Part of that increase is positive--"Debt is rising because homeownership is rising," Wys notes--but not all of it. "Some