GDP debt by country.. wow..

[Peacetrain]

I posted this in GD, but it will be gone in 2 seconds so here it is.. I just find this fascinating,

I was looking at some economic stats, and found this..I highlighted a few.. Just throwing this out for comment on a global DU level.

Other selected Levels of Public Debt as a % of GDP from 2009 est

1 Zimbabwe 304.30 %
2 Japan 192.10
3 Saint Kitts and Nevis 185.00
4 Lebanon 160.10
5 Jamaica 131.70
6 Singapore 117.60
7 Italy 115.20
8 Greece 108.10
9 Sudan 104.50
10 Iceland 100.60
11 Belgium 99.00
12 Nicaragua 87.00
13 Israel 83.90
14 Sri Lanka 82.90
15 Egypt 79.80
16 France 79.70
17 Germany 77.20
18 Portugal 75.20
19 Hungary 72.40
20 Canada 72.30
21 Jordan 69.90
22 United Kingdom 68.50
23 Austria 68.20
24 Ghana 67.50
25 Malta 66.20
26 Cote d’Ivoire 63.80
27 Ireland 63.70
28 Netherlands 62.30
29 Philippines 62.30
30 Norway 60.20
31 India 60.10
32 Spain 59.50
33 Uruguay 58.70
34 Mauritius 58.30
35 Malawi 58.00
36 Bhutan 57.80
37 El Salvador 55.40
38 Albania 54.90
39 Kenya 54.10
40 Morocco 54.10
41 Tunisia 53.80
42 World 53.60
43 Cyprus 52.40
44 Vietnam 52.30
45 Panama 49.50
46 Thailand 49.40
47 Costa Rica 49.30
48 Argentina 49.10
49 Turkey 48.50
50 Malaysia 47.80
51 Croatia 47.70
52 Poland 47.50
53 United Arab Emirates 47.20
54 Brazil 46.80
55 Finland 46.60
56 Aruba 46.30
57 Colombia 46.10
58 Pakistan 45.30
59 Bolivia 44.00
60 Seychelles 43.90
61 Switzerland 43.50
62 Sweden 43.20
63 Bosnia and Herzegovina 43.00
64 Mexico 42.60
65 Dominican Republic 41.50
66 United States 39.70
67 Yemen 39.60
68 Bangladesh 38.20
69 Denmark 38.10
70 Montenegro 38.00
71 Serbia 37.00
72 South Africa 35.70
73 Cuba 34.80
74 Gabon 34.70
75 Slovakia 34.60
76 Taiwan 34.60
77 Papua New Guinea 33.70
78 Czech Republic 32.80
79 Guatemala 32.70
80 Latvia 32.50
81 Ecuador 32.30
82 Syria 32.30
83 Ethiopia 31.70
84 Zambia 31.50
85 Slovenia 31.40
86 Lithuania 31.30
87 Moldova 31.30
88 Bahrain 30.10
89 Indonesia 29.80
90 New Zealand 29.30
91 Korea, South 28.00
92 Trinidad and Tobago 26.70
93 Mozambique 26.10
94 Peru 26.10
95 Tanzania 24.80
96 Macedonia 24.50
97 Honduras 24.30
98 Senegal 24.00
99 Paraguay 22.10
100 Bulgaria 21.40
101 Ukraine 20.70
102 Saudi Arabia 20.30
103 Romania 20.00
104 Iran 19.40
105 Venezuela 19.40
106 Uganda 19.30
107 Namibia 19.10
108 Australia 18.60
109 China 18.20
110 Hong Kong 18.10
111 Botswana 17.90
112 Nigeria 17.80
113 Angola 16.80
114 Gibraltar 15.70
115 Luxembourg 14.50
116 Cameroon 14.30
117 Kazakhstan 14.00
118 Uzbekistan 11.70
119 Algeria 10.70
120 Chile 9.00
121 Kuwait 8.20
122 Estonia 7.50
123 Qatar 7.10
124 Russia 6.90
125 Libya 6.50
126 Wallis and Futuna 5.60
127 Azerbaijan 4.60
128 Oman 2.80
129 Equatorial Guinea 1.10

[Cary]

1. What is it that fascinates you?

What do you suppose this really means?

To me it's just another number amidst a whole set of numbers. What is "money"? I think too many people conflate the notion of money as it relates to national economies with the notion of money as it relates to personal net worth.

[Peacetrain]

2. What fascinates me about it.. the the amount of debt carried by other countries

Just kind of mind blowing.

Especially Japan

[Cary]

3. Why?

Not being snarky. Just interested in your opinion. :)

[Peacetrain]

4. Well that is an honest question... I for one do not have a problem with

a certain amount of debt.

Debt is the grease that makes the engine run.

The republicans has suddenly discovered the DEBT that they basically ran up with huge tax cuts, and are now biting at the bit because the current administration had to run it up also to get us out of the mess they created.

That is why I highlighted some of the countries that have huge GDP debt.

To put in in a local example.. I live in Iowa, and the family farmer goes to the Bank to get the loan that puts in the crop, or buys the new combines at the Distributor, uses it at the grocery store etc etc turns it over at least 7 times.

That is a healthy use of debt. Now if the farmer does not repay, he will not be able to keep getting the loans, that actually fund so many other people who depend on his debt acquisition. So it is a two edged sword.

You need debt, and the repayment of debt to loan out again to keep the whole thing going.

From that list of countries, we are not looking too bad on a global scale (that is not personal debt.. totally different story)

So Health Care, the Stimulus, etc Loan for College Students, is a healthy use of debt.

[Cary]

5. The government prints money.

The crude quantity theory of money is Money X Velocity = Price X Quantity.

Price X Quantity is GDP, of course. Velocity is the number of times money circulates through the economy and it is a constant of 3 times per year.

So if quantity increases, and money does not, what happens? Who adjusts the money supply? What happens to debt as a result?

This is the monetarists own theory, and they're the ones who pitch the fit when it's convenient for them to do so. So, yes, I think you're spot on about the hypocrisy.

As for efficient use of our resources, yes, I think you're spot on there too.

[grantcart]

7. Your understanding of money theory is not accurate

There are two different things currency and money.

Currency is what the government produces and money is the total value of goods and services in the economy.

If you go out and arrange a mortgage for $ 200,000 the value of money in the economy has increased by $ 200,000 but the government has not printed that money.

For that reason the total amount of the value of the money can increase or decrease dramatically by non government actions that have nothing to do with the amount of printed currency which is in fact only a small percent of the total money in the economy.

The serious problems that we have faced over the last 2 years are the result of 8 years of the government not paying attention to the private sectors use of its credit operations, and not the result of the government printing too much money.

[Cary]

9. I am not referring to the money supply per se,

and I never said the government has printed too much money. I'm not even sure what that means: "too much money."

My only point here is that a lot of the debt can and should be monetized. The federal government's debt is not the same thing as an individual's debt.

Even if it's not monetized it's actually the same thing, but this is already convoluted enough.

[grantcart]

6. This is why any discussion of debt that is in dollars and not in percent of GNP

Is a waste of time.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

11. It's really THE dirty little secret.

Our debt is very, very manageable. The sheer magnitude of the bottom line is what scares people, but most don't realize just how high our GDP really is.

[mr1956]

8. Thanks for posting

These types of serious discussions are what brought me to DU in the first place. I've learned something new today and it piqued my interest to learn more.

[TicketyBoo]

10. I have a ?

Exactly to whom is all this debt owed?

Do all the countries owe it to one another? Or what? Or where?

If they/we owe it to one another, it looks like there could be some mutual debt forgiveness done.

Rather puzzling.

[RoyGBiv]

12. Depends on the country ...

There's not a blanket answer to this question that would fit all the nations on that list.

For the most part, though, the United States owes the majority of its debt to itself, e.g. through the sale of Treasury Bills.