Debt

From Zero Hedge's Tyler Durden.

Seriously.

I'm not entirely sure where the above link is going to end up taking you.

Zero Hedge is pretty clear that they don't really care that much whether you're reading them or not.

I'm a member, it took a week or ten days to hear back from them.

They finally informed me that I seemed cool since I was human and hadn't nagged, so I could join.

The writing is different from any you'll read anywhere else.

It's probably mostly a site for trader/speculator types.

It can get a little deep.

My only concern is that I am in violation of the first rule of Zero Hedge.

Regardless, I recommend it.

The Economist offers a very brief article, and an outstanding interactive map which seeks to demonstrate the volume of world debt.

Click anywhere below to link to the site.

Highly recommended.

The headlines are all about sovereign debt at the moment.

But that is only part of the problem.

Debt has risen across the economy, from consumers on credit cards, though industrial companies borrowing for expansion and financial companies using debt to buy risky assets.

The interactive graphic below shows the overall debt levels for a wide range of countries, based on data supplied by the McKinsey Global Institute.

In theory there is no maximum level for debt relative to GDP, but Ireland and Iceland (not on this map) found the limit in practice when they hit eight-to-ten times GDP.

The debt is also broken down by sector.

Note the huge size of Britain’s banks relative to its economy, and the high level of Spanish corporate debt.

These figures will worry owners of government bonds since the 2008 crisis showed that governments may be forced to stand behind private sector debt.

Bill Bonner at the Daily Reckoning does a nice job here in analyzing the Greek debt crisis simply, and with the possible exception of a central banker or your garden variety EU bureaucrat, in language anybody can understand.

Click anywhere on the quote for the entire piece.

Recomended.

Greek communists are usually a reliable bastion of error and darkness.

Their ideas are appalling.

Their proposals are absurd.

The only thing they are not wrong about is their opinion of the ruling classes - whom they regard as morons.