When we talk about our national debt, is debt to GDP ratio a reliable indicator? If you look at this ratio, there are countries who have a much higher ratio than the U.S.? Why would the U.S. whose debt is 60% of GDP be in trouble, as compared to say Japan whose debt is 195%of GDP or Singapore which is at 101%?
I don’t even think GDP is a reliable indicator.
I am very confused with these statistics. I though Japan was a country that has a currency deliberately undervalued by the Bank of Japan (though not as severely as China) so that they have accumulated a massive amount of foreign reserves in US dollars. However you point out that their debt is twice their GDP. I must probably be misinterpreting something.
This is the link to CIA world book for GDP info. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html
Another link is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_public_debt
I dont know how debt is distributed in Japan and Singapure. But it is poor people and the middle class that carries the big burden of the US debt.