6 Countries Have More Debt Than Their Economy

[fivefoottwo 3,108]

2 hours ago, malazam said:

I wasn’t expecting that list at all.

ikr. all of them are first world countries that seem like rich and well-off. shook

[derpmonster 22,412]

30 minutes ago, fivefoottwo said:

ikr. all of them are first world countries that seem like rich and well-off. shook

A lot of economic success of first world economies is a Perfect Illusion that has the flavor but no follow through. I don't wanna get into it all but yup.

[fivefoottwo 3,108]

1 hour ago, derpmonster said:

A lot of economic success of first world economies is a Perfect Illusion that has the flavor but no follow through. I don't wanna get into it all but yup.

that's so interesting. im so clueless about economy and how it works so this is something so new to me

[FameMonster01 7,208]

And I moved from Croatia to Norway for better life, i- 

[littlepotter 76,624]

This is only for relevany countries right? Bc I expected lebanon to be number one on here

[CELINE 781]

And most of Canada's percentage are probably generated from Vancouver and Toronto. 

[Lona Delery 7,227]

this doesnt worry me too much for Switzerland. it is common here to never repay a mortgage, since it's better for both banks and the owner of the house. i guess this really inflates the number here

[Economy 53,076]

4 hours ago, littlepotter said:

This is only for relevany countries right? Bc I expected lebanon to be number one on here

This list didn't include every Nation on earth but these countries are indeed the worst they are talked about all the time in the economics world for risk of financial meltdowns

[Economy 53,076]

4 hours ago, FameMonster01 said:

And I moved from Croatia to Norway for better life, i- 

It doesn't mean Norway's standard of living isn't better tho. A lot of factors affect this and wealthier Nations actually tend to have more consumer debt by tendency not less

[Economy 53,076]

6 hours ago, derpmonster said:

A lot of economic success of first world economies is a Perfect Illusion that has the flavor but no follow through. I don't wanna get into it all but yup.

Are you talking about how in the first world Nations the last few decades the economy is mostly driven by retail and service sector and thus completely a slave to consumer spending so it's hard for these economies to do well if consumers actually try to save

[AMENiCURE 9,381]

15 minutes ago, Economy said:

Are you talking about how in the first world Nations the last few decades the economy is mostly driven by retail and service sector and thus completely a slave to consumer spending so it's hard for these economies to do well if consumers actually try to save

I see Argentina having 7%, are the values around that indicate financial trouble during meltdowns?

[Economy 53,076]

25 minutes ago, AMENiCURE said:

I see Argentina having 7%, are the values around that indicate financial trouble during meltdowns?

Rephrase what exactly are you asking

[Luc 4,776]

11 hours ago, Economy said:

@Luc @Lord Temptation

 

Your Countries got me beat

 

Tho these rankings vary slightly depending on what exactly is factored in

 

I know for private sector debt (so including companies) Australia was the worst in the world and then Canada was second worst

 

But interestingly, most of these Nations with high consumer debt in turn have low government debt. Im curious on your perspective why that tends to be the case @Woolfsmck

 

These nations I listed at the bottom line Italy and Japan and USA with lower cost sumer debt have way higher government debt

Money has to go somewhere and come from somewhere. If the government takes more money than it spends, people and companies are more inclined to make private debt.

 

Also, neo-liberal governments relax private debt/lending requirements (e.g. mortgages) while they strive for a lower public debt. The economic growth from higher private debt and housing prices is then sold as a success story.

 

In the Netherlands specifically you get a huge tax deduction on the money you pay for your mortgage, leading to very high housing prices and very high private debt. Our 'liberal' (classical, so centre-right) governing party doesn't want to abolish it even though 80% of profits go to the upper middle class and even though the policy distorts the market. Tells you a lot about how principled the 'less government intervention!' peeps are when their voters profit from it.

[Economy 53,076]

7 minutes ago, Luc said:

Money has to go somewhere and come from somewhere. If the government takes more money than it spends, people and companies are more inclined to make private debt.

 

Also, neo-liberal governments relax private debt/lending requirements (e.g. mortgages) while they strive for a lower public debt. The economic growth from higher private debt and housing prices is then sold as a success story.

 

In the Netherlands specifically you get a huge tax deduction on the money you pay for your mortgage, leading to very high housing prices and very high private debt. Our 'liberal' (classical, so centre-right) governing party doesn't want to abolish it even though 80% of profits go to the upper middle class and even though the policy distorts the market. Tells you a lot about how principled the 'less government intervention!' peeps are when their voters profit from it.

That's true and I also thought that was part of the reason why...

 

Although a country could for example have low consumer debt AND low government debt if let's say they run budget surpluses but the budget surplus is smaller than their trade surplus... You'd have the government taking in more than they put back but the private sector would still be in surplus...

 

Germany for example has low consumer debt and their government debt isn't all that high either (although as a % of GDP it's still a little higher than say Canada or Australia but it's still low by developed world standards)...

 

Germany has the biggest trade surplus in the developed world and this could explain why both consumers and government are in good standing while in most other nations it seems to be either one or the other

 

Interesting about the tax deduction btw. We don't have that here in Canada as far as I know. If we have any kind of returns for mortgages I'm not aware of it 

[Arcanum 5,210]

Interesting.

Here in Greece the last decade has been a decline slope. Salaries are cut to half, young hunties are moving to Europe, people are struggling with all the taxes and we have the most corrupt governments the world has ever seen. Government debt became consumer's debt without even us knowing it. I am wondering what all of this will spiral down to globally.