the way I see it; More Problems More Money"
Below: The US debt clock in NY, September 15, 2009
If the above statement is true or not something that is worth discussing. Most agree, however, that too much debt leads to major problems.
To qoute Göran Persson: "He who is in debt is not free" (Den som är satt i skuld är icke fri)
I found this very interesting website www.usdebtclock.org, where you can follow the U.S. debt in real time. It also contains information on other important economic factors, for example GDP composition, tax revenues, defense spending, unemployment, oil imports, the budget deficit and how much money the government has spent on stimulus and bailouts.
The numbers are enormous, but it if you take minute to look them over is is easy to get a grip of how things are connected and very easy to see that revenues do not cover expenses.
What surprises you is the speed at which all numbers constantly increase. While I was writing this short post for example (about 20 minutes), spending on defense (including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan) increased with about $ 15 000 000 (!!!) I guess More Problems does mean More Money after all.
Now, where is the swedish debt clock? It would be really interesting to see something similar for the swedish economy.
You can find the swedish debt on www.riksgalden.se, and a UK debt clock can be found at www.debtbombshell.com
Australia: www.debtclock.com.au
Germany: www.steuerzahler.de/
Interesting thoughts. But nevertheless, there are people making proft of all these debts, as well as on the war. The banking industry. I just want to quote Public Enemy shortly here: "Burn Hollywod, burn."
ReplyDeleteIt's true that people are making money of debt, although without banks the world would not function. The financial crisis is a small example of what would happen without banks.
ReplyDeleteIf you're not borrowing from your best friend or relatives this is the only way debt will be possible, by someone being able to make money from lending, it's the most important incentive to lend. The problem with too large debts however is that at some point the lenders will consider your debt too large and lending to you too risky which will lead them to demand higher interests, which you may not be able to pay.