Buffoonistas
Who are the world's biggest debtor nations?
1st place goes to Ireland - 811%
External debt (as % of GDP): 811%
External debt per capita: $549,819
2nd United Kingdom - 336%
External debt (as % of GDP): 336%
External debt per capita: $153,616
3rd Belgium - 327%
External Debt (as % of GDP): 327%
External debt per capita: $155,362
4th Hong Kong - 295%
External debt (as % of GDP): 295%
External debt per capita: $93,539
5th Netherlands - 268%
External debt (as % of GDP): 268%
External debt per capita: $145,959
6th Switzerland - 264%
External debt (as % of GDP): 264%
External debt per capita: $171,478
7th Austria - 191%
External debt (as % of GDP): 191%
External debt per capita: $100,787
8th France - 168%
External debt (as % of GDP): 168%
External debt per capita: $78,070
9th Denmark - 159%
External debt (as % of GDP): 159%
External debt per capita: $107,026
10th Germany - 137.5%
External debt (as % of GDP): 137.5%
External debt per capita: $63,767
11th Spain - 137.5%
External debt (as % of GDP): 137.5%
External debt per capita: $57,091
12th Sweden - 129%
External debt (as % of GDP): 129%
External debt per capita: $73,245
13th Finland - 116%
External debt (as % of GDP): 116%
External debt per capita: $62,579
14th Norway - 114%
External debt (as % of GDP): 114%
External debt per capita: $118,353
15th - United States - 95.09%
External debt (as % of GDP): 95.09%
External debt per capita: $44,358
Is it just me, or are most of these leading debtor nations also the countries the US left-leaners often claim are icons of social success stories, and we should yearn to imitate their "free" stuff programs?
Bubba, the left-leaning buffoons will claim their debt is the fault of Americans who are sinking the US dollar, at the expense of the above nations, and has nothing to do with the failure of socialist styled governments. But don't listen to 'em Bubba - these folks will cut off their own nose to spite their face.
2 comments:
The statistics are for external debt, which includes private as well as government debt. I'm don't think that's a good indicator of how fiscally repsonsible a government is. The stats for public (government) debt show a very different picture:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2186rank.html
Just comparing Belgium to the US using the CIA factbook shows:
Belgium, pop 10 million, external debt = 1.3 trillion, public debt = 80.8% of GDP.
US, pop 307 million, external debt = 1.25 trillion, public debt = 60.8% of GDP.
I don't think the picture is much different, although honestly I was hoping it would b/c I wanted to stand corrected. :0)
External debt can include government, corporations or private households who owe creditors outside the country. I think you have to include both public/private to get an accurate indication of how responsible a government may or may not be.
April 23, 2009 According to the International Monetary Fund, Belgium's recession will be twice as severe as predicted by the Belgian Federal Planning Bureau. The Planning Bureau assumed an economic downturn of 1.9 percent this year, but the IMF is forecasting a 3.8 percent downturn. This is the biggest decline since 1939, says the Nationale Bank. The impact this will have on the budget is an additional deficit of one percent of the GDP or about 3.5 billion Euros and a total deficit of 4.3 percent or 15 billion Euros, resulting in a lack of funds for a recovery plan part II. Nevertheless, Minister of Work and Equal Opportunities Joëlle Milquet (CdH) was ready to introduce a package of measures to prevent company redundancies. She was kindly asked to temporarily put on hold the collective reduction of working hours, the tax cuts for specific target groups of workers and the introduction of so-called special time credit during periods of economic crisis, De Morgen reports. The introduction of the temporary unemployment system for white-collar workers will be tabled at a meeting of the core government meeting on Friday. The IMF says that unemployment will not increase to 8.2 percent in 2009, as forecast by the Planning Bureau, but to 9.5 percent.
I'm still half expecting a world war to pump up the funds but it may not look like world war - more likely the killing and stealing will be done under the guise of government contractors with aid.
Offhand, I don't believe the US is in as dire straits as some let on - "they" are just redistributing the wealth (mostly upwards) and mentally preparing folks for the grand solution they have up their sleeve. But what the hay, kick back and smoke a doobie and I'm going to have a cold Killian's Red with lime on the side.
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