'We're mortgaging the future of the younger generation'

Niall Ferguson:

Critics of Western democracy are right to discern that something is amiss with our political institutions. The most obvious symptom of the malaise is the huge debts we have managed to accumulate in recent decades, which (unlike in the past) cannot largely be blamed on wars.

According to the International Monetary Fund, the gross government debt of Greece this year will reach 153 per cent of GDP. For Italy the figure is 123, for Ireland 113, for Portugal 112 and for the United States 107.

Britain's debt is approaching 88 per cent. Japan - a special case as the first non-Western country to adopt Western institutions - is the world leader, with a mountain of government debt approaching 236 per cent of GDP, more than triple what it was 20 years ago.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at June 26, 2012 2:19 AM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas