Surely after The Great Recession people, organizations, and governments would be more cautious of debt, leveraging, and risky financing. The data on global debt suggest otherwise, at least for governments. Global debt has now risen to $199,000,000,000,000 ($199T), up 17% 2007. There are great debates among economists as to whether this is worrisome or not; but, there were great debates prior to The Great Recession that included people saying there wasn’t anything to worry about. China’s debt load has gone from 160% of GDP to 240% of GDP since 2007. Considering the concern showed by the New York Fed, it is reasonable to conclude that the situation now is worse than the situation in 2007, systemic changes have not been implemented, which could lead to a repeat and possibly worse reprise.
(Click on the graph for the link.)
“The Global Debt Overhang” – Bruegel
Pretending Not To Panic 