http://www.creditloan.com/blog/americans-debt-to-income-ratio-as-compared-with-other-countries/

That is pretty interesting. The one side of the equation that is missing is for that amassed debt, who is it owed to would be an interesting statistic.

Japan holds the largest amount of ours, followed closely by China.

Heh, if our national debt is handled the way individual debt is, we are screwed.

I had a credit card balance of a couple thousand, and when I got the last statement I sent in a check for the entire balance, in full. Today I got the new statement saying I owed a balance of $20.53, for interest on a portion of the balance that I had paid off.

I don't cancel accounts, but that card was immediately cut up, so the company will get no fresh charges from me.


Do you think we will ever finish paying the interest on our national debt?

As long as we have the FED and other central banks controlling our money supply, it's mathematically impossible to repay all debt plus interest.

Do you think we will ever finish paying the interest on our national debt?

Given that every year for the last twenty we've added more, while our per-capita income was shrinking, and robbed the Social Security vault too (imagine you're paying those social security levies as taxes, because basically you have been), it seems highly unlikely that we will maintain a positive governmental income for the 50 years running that would take at minimum.

If you want some real fun, wait until one of the major national bonds gets de-rated from first class debt instrument ...

'Japan holds the largest amount of ours, followed closely by China.'

- Don't sweat it, for a century Britain's biggest competitor, the Dutch, held most of her debt. And we fought them twice!

Funny I was listening to BBC radio yesterday and they were airing snippets of Parliment bitching about Brown's latest statement and how he purportedly kept blaming Britian's slow down on the US. Man they were ripping him a new asshole; it was great. And if you listen to them it would sound as though they are worse off than we are. Care to comment Halo?

Comment about? Brown getting ripped? That's a regular feature of British politics since he took power last year. Great administrator and chancellor - terrible orator, I'm afriad. He often finds it very difficult to defend himself against the Tories, and he has a hopeless personality which is a handicap in this celebrity-rich world. Nonetheless I think he's the best man for the helm right now (although many blame his "borrow or bust" policy as chancellor ['97-2007] for our current economic downturn).

Comment about? Britain being in a worse state? Well I think we're up the top, certainly akin to the US right now. I'm not sure we can judge who is worse, especially as we haven't seen a collapse in mortgage lending like the sub-prime crisis (though it has been hit hard), nor such a wide-spread collapse in banking giants (though nationalisation and monster-mergers have only just saved us by a thread), but we are certainly one of the hardest countries hit by the economic doom and gloom, as we are an overwhelmingly service-based economy, our revenue comes from finance and trade - those very aspects of the economy that's taking the brunt of it. We have always been vulnerable to such events, but it's what makes us an exceptionally wealthy country when the global economy is on the up-and-up, I think the sixth richest economy in the world?

It's messy but as the economy slumps, so shall it rise. Everyone's just gotta grit their teeth. If Brown thinks Britain can ride it out by borrowing billions and increasing public expenditure to 'fake' prosperity and hoping economic trends mirror that, while slashing increasingly important revenue like VAT by 2.5%, then bless him for trying. Personally I think global economic trends are best to ride out, the less fiddling we do the better.

How bad is the Iceland thing over there in Britain?

I guess I wasn't specific and to be honest I can't even remember what I was asking. Thanks for approaching it and answering both angles.

I tend to agree with you, I think in times like this the more you muck with things the greater the potential impact to be felt down the road.

I'd also like to hear you viewpoint on the Iceland melt down. Does that affect you guys much?

Yes - various county-counsils (our local authorities, if you like, the large regional bodies of government) had millions in Icelandic banks. Indeed Kent County Council had something like 80m quid deposited there, which though is something small like 150m dollars, it is still significant to a lot of departments during an economic pinch. Private savings lost amounted to something like 200m dollars.
It hurt a lot of people, but not as much as Northern Rock going under (though it was ultimately rescued by Brown), which was what you would call our kind of less severe 'sub-prime'.

To be honest, it isn't all as bad as it seems. Unemployment is up, but only by a few percentile; inflation is low; small businesses are being guaranteed loans; interest rates have been slashed; and now VAT is set to be reduced by 2.5%. The good thing about an economic down-turn is that government tends to stick its hand in its pocket, things are made easier, business and borrowing is guaranteed, and the banks get it in the nuts - everyone's happy!

But seriously, the Iceland thing is hush-hushed a lot, because of the drastic (and, perhaps, illegal) measure taken to restore lost monies. But things on a day-to-day situation are not too bad here. It is worse in the City - the counties not feeling too much of a pinch. Indeed I believe the bigger picture is also not too severe. Housing has slumped in price, but it was far too inflated a year ago, finally first time buyers stand a chance, especially when the Stamp Duty was raised to a tolerable level.

There's good and bad. Perhaps the really bad thing about it all is the uncertainty, there's a general feeling (magnified in the US, most probably) of waking up and not knowing what large cooperation, firm, bank or business has collapsed. With the media constantly worrying, it worries the population. People love to talk about worrying things, and so everything is put into a bad context, and thus ensues an atmosphere of economic depression, even if it isn't affecting people as much as we think it is.

EDIT: Like this example of not knowing what's going to collapse next: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7751064.stm
But then look at this for a positive consequence: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7749382.stm