World Debt Guide : Owe Dear
It seems like everyone owes a lot of money. Coupled with the fact that most of the first world is not growing as fast as it would like (or was projected to), debt is the word of the day and it's here with interest. Debt is often shown as % of GDP, and you wouldn't believe how popular triple digits are. All the cool kids are doing it.
Greece's spending problems made it ask all its friends for help, but then it found out they weren't doing too good either. Germany was alright, but fed up with being slowed down and looked to for handouts. Germany definitely wasn't trying to give any change to Greece with Ireland, Spain, and Portugal already looking longingly at it. America's debt almost made it go from AAA to AA rated, which is worse than when your favorite restaurant gets tagged with a "B" in the window from the health inspector. In a country where credit cards are as ubiquitous as debt solution commercials, it's no surprise we owe a few friends a couple of dollars. Actually we owe ourselves a couple of dollars too, in the form of domestically held bonds and transfer payments for the retiring baby boomers.
It seems like looking at debt is the best way to look at the global economic landscape, and that's a pretty scary observation. But if I knew someone in debt, the last thing I would tell them to do is forget about it and treat themselves to a night on the town. Admitting we have a problem is as cliche as it is a necessary first step. The golden rule in economics as well as the backbone of ethics and morality goes something like, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". A common caveat to this thinking is excluding those people who don't have a voice. In this case literally, because those being most left out of the conversation are future generations. Once they do get their voices, there is little doubt they will be using them to scream at Grandma and Grandpa for running up such a big tab at the last generation party.
Without being too insensitive, we need to get started before the lucky ones die. As uncomfortable as it is to say and support, everyone needs to tighten their belts. Even the elderly must take part in the readjustment process that will move America towards a stable equilibrium. Making exceptions is an expensive gesture that is often not treated as such. The reason such exceptions have become as customary as a tipping your waiter is because the person getting the bill hasn't shown up to dinner yet.
