The Great Recession put debt firmly in the spotlight for many consumers. For the past several years, we’ve been “deleveraging,” either by paying off credit cards or mortgages, or, unfortunately, defaulting on debt. Either way, our debt finally hit pre-recession levels in 2012. Recently, household debt has been on the rise again. But this time, analysts are viewing it as a good thing. That’s because it may signal that we’re ready to spend and invest again. According to the Federal Reserve, two of the last three quarters have seen Americans’ total household outstanding debt — which includes credit cards, mortgages and auto loans — increase. As long as we’re smarter with debt than we were before the recession, this may prove to be a turning point for the economy.