Japan and United States' Debt

[Starbuck]

It seems to me that Japan is in very serious trouble.

On the list of debt as a percentage of GDP Japan is second only to Zimbabwe! Zimbabwe, I say!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...by_public_debt

And their GDP just went down. This is very, very bad.


PS: Looks who's at the very bottom, owing almost no money at all.

[Adam Wood]

It seems to me that Japan is in very serious trouble.

On the list of debt as a percentage of GDP Japan is second only to Zimbabwe! Zimbabwe, I say!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...by_public_debt

And their GDP just went down. This is very, very bad.


PS: Looks who's at the very bottom, owing almost no money at all.

That's what I was about to bring up. Japan is in deep shit already from a debt standpoint. They are basically a look into Obamanomics, fifteen years later. They spent a full decade spending like there was no tomorrow on "public works" and "infrastructure" and they just sank farther and faster the more that they spent.

Their problem is going to be faaaaarrrr greater than what to do with what US debt they hold. They basically don't have two nickels to rub together to fix all this damage that has happened (and continues to happen).

I suspect that this will force Tokyo to stop flushing money down the toilet and seriously tighten their belt in order to fix this disaster. Once that period of pain has passed, they will prosper quite nicely. But it's going to take a while.

[Odysseus]

It's unlikely that Japan will dump our debt, for the simple reason that once one country does it, it will trigger a run on the dollar, which makes their holdings worth a lot less. Much more likely is that they will trade our debt back to us in return for aid in repairs and relief supplies, at a discount rate, and if Obama had half a brain, that's what he'd propose. That would actually reduce our debt overall and employ Americans at the same time.

[swirling_vortex]

That's what I was about to bring up. Japan is in deep shit already from a debt standpoint. They are basically a look into Obamanomics, fifteen years later. They spent a full decade spending like there was no tomorrow on "public works" and "infrastructure" and they just sank farther and faster the more that they spent.

Their problem is going to be faaaaarrrr greater than what to do with what US debt they hold. They basically don't have two nickels to rub together to fix all this damage that has happened (and continues to happen).

I suspect that this will force Tokyo to stop flushing money down the toilet and seriously tighten their belt in order to fix this disaster. Once that period of pain has passed, they will prosper quite nicely. But it's going to take a while.

Yeah, they basically had the equivalent of 8 or so stimulus programs in one form or another.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122938932478509075.html

These two also look familiar: