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+--- Thread: 159.1% (/showthread.php?tid=131570)
159.1% - freeradical - 02-06-2012
That's Greece's debt to GDP ratio. We're just pikers at only a little over 100%. Pile it on!
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/business/global/data-show-greeces-debt-ratio-growing-as-economy-shrinks.html?hp
Re: 159.1% - voodoopenguin - 02-06-2012
This is not meant as some sort of competition as I don't fully understand all these figures but I have heard here on several occasions that the US is in a better position compared to say the UK. I see that our own ratio is at the moment 64.2% up from 59% a year ago. The EC target is 60% but currently stands at 82 average across the 27 member states. This particular measure seems to show that Europe as a whole is doing better than the US but I am sure that there are many other figures and ways to compare that will show the US is stronger.
I do note that the UK's level of personal debt is almost the highest in the world.
Paul
Re: 159.1% - Pops - 02-06-2012
voodoopenguin wrote:I don't pretend to understand the macro economics of all this, but the above seems a very dire statistic.
I do note that the UK's level of personal debt is almost the highest in the world.
Re: 159.1% - voodoopenguin - 02-06-2012
Pops wrote:I don't pretend to understand the macro economics of all this, but the above seems a very dire statistic.
[quote=voodoopenguin]
I do note that the UK's level of personal debt is almost the highest in the world.
You might be pleased to know that I have no personal debt.
Paul
Re: 159.1% - Grace62 - 02-06-2012
freeradical wrote:
That's Greece's debt to GDP ratio. We're just pikers at only a little over 100%. Pile it on!
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/business/global/data-show-greeces-debt-ratio-growing-as-economy-shrinks.html?hp
Did you read that article? I'm just wondering, because the article suggests that austerity, meaning a sharp cutback in gov't spending, has been the wrong thing to do. Greece needs GDP growth, not curtailment, if it's going to dig it's way out. (In reality Greece has to curtail its public sector and spur growth at the same time, no one is sure yet how to make that happen.)
As for comparisons with the US? We aren't Greece, not even close.
Greece has had severe problems with government corruption, unemployment, lack of manufacturing base, and size of the public sector relative to the overall economy. If you compare our numbers with theirs, you can see why they were obviously headed for trouble, and why there is no reason to think that the US is on a similar course.
It's become popular among Republicans to say "we're heading in the same direction as Greece," but in order for that to work, they're going to have to assume that the US public is very badly informed on the economic issues of other countries (Maybe that's a fair assumption.)
Re: 159.1% - Ca Bob - 02-07-2012
Obviously the debt to GDP ratio is not the only economic indicator of importance. I think it's also important to notice that a substantial part of our federal debt is due to foreign wars and military run-ups that those same Republican congressmen voted for again and again. It does have an effect. But in a serious recession that threatens to become a serious depression, it makes sense to run up federal debt in order to avoid a long run depression. One problem is that it takes a while for this to work, but we may be starting to see some success.