HMS Blighty sinking low in the water

I came across this graphic from Bloomberg Businessweek showing that sovereign debt (i.e. what has been borrowed by government) is only part of the overall debt problem.

If we concentrate only on sovereign debt, then the UK is pretty much on a par with other large economies. But if we look below the waterline at the extent of bank, business and household borrowing, the UK is burdened with more debt relative to its GDP than any other large economy.

The UK media likes to paint the picture that the UK is in a relatively good position because it isn't in the Eurozone. But the current crisis isn't primarily to do with currency; it's about debt, and specifically whether banks will stay afloat if they have to bear the losses resulting from defaults.

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great graphic! The whole world crisis is to do with private, not public debt. There isn't enough money in the world to pay it all off. And people have been given expectations regarding their worth and affluence that are totally unsupportable. Capitalism is dying. We have to find a better way.

Anonymous said...

no fraud and corruption is alive and well and is in a city near you
long live enronomics
the elite and the robber barons are back looting the public purse

long live alexio rastani

Andrew said...

Banking is a Ponzi scheme and we've run out of new people to keep the scam train going...

Capitalism isnt dying, Banking is dying, and unfortunately we're all reliant on that sinking boat.

The reality of the situation is that debt is slavery and we will soon be slaves to the 'last country standing' (i.e. the last country that isn't borrowing copius amounts to support itself and its debts). The western countries rely on servie driven industries and dont export so my bet is we'll all be speaking Chinese by 2050.

Andrew said...

Banking is a Ponzi scheme and we've run out of new people to keep the scam train going...

Capitalism isnt dying, Banking is dying, and unfortunately we're all reliant on that sinking boat.

The reality of the situation is that debt is slavery and we will soon be slaves to the 'last country standing' (i.e. the last country that isn't borrowing copius amounts to support itself and its debts). The western countries rely on servie driven industries and dont export so my bet is we'll all be speaking Chinese by 2050.

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