The measure of national debt to GDP, is a very coarse measure and doesn't mean very much except to contain panic and reassure people in troubled economies.
For instance we can compare the net savings rate situation where the US which was traditionally -ve and which has only reached positive levels of around 2 to 3% of net disposable incomes after this last (2008) recession versus Japan which has tapered off from its highs of 20+% to about 5% today In China the net savings rate is estimated to be effectively over 40% and in India over 25% (not the official figures). The high inflows of external money into safe harbors with high net savings rate is causing tremendous local overheating (inflation) and very soon we could witness a "Rem trade" or "Rupee trade" like the "Yen trade" of the previous decade. The effect would be worse on nations with aging populations and a social security culture. On Sun, May 16, 2010 at 7:57 AM, Russ Abbott <russ.abb...@gmail.com> wrote: > Of the industrialized nations, Japan is in worst shape according to this > measure. But no one seems to be worrying too much about the Yen. It's still > treated as a safe harbor. > > -- Russ A >
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