Boats - the newest economic proxy

The Big Picture highlights the New York Times piece on the booming business that is the boat repo trade as boat-owners, many who used cheap credit to buy their dreamboat, let their payments lapse in the face of rising credit and gas costs. From the New York Times article on the newest economic proxy: "Boating was traditionally the pastime of the well-off, but the long housing boom and its gusher of easy credit changed that. People refinanced their homes and used the cash for down payments on a cruiser, miniyacht or sailboat. From 2000 to 2006, retail sales for the recreational boating industry rose by more than 40 percent, to $39.5 billion, while the average loan amount more than tripled to $141,000. Last year, as real estate faltered, the gears went into reverse. The number of boats sold