What is Digg?475 Comments
- dagnabbit, on 11/09/2007, -15/+240The US is bankrupt. The day will come when all we can pay is the interest on our debts; not education, infrastructure, defense, nothing. It's appalling that our nation's leaders don't even seem to address the issue, much less figure out a way to fix it.
- socialpyramid, on 11/09/2007, -3/+88Uncle Sam needs to shred up his credit cards now. Or freeze them in a giant ice cube. Seriously.
- Albionshores, on 10/10/2007, -5/+74Only America isn't the one earning $40 an hour. American business is - and American business ceases to be American when it incorporates itself overseas - like Halliburton did. And American business ceases to be American when overseas companies buy them up lock, stock and barrel. Like the Chinese state investment fund has been set up to do.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i2OcTnAaxj4DBh ...
In addition; if America owes that money, which it does, and has sold that debt, which it has, and the dollar continues to collapse, which it is - then there is a very good reason for people to begin ditching US reserves as the dollar descends even further compared to other more competitive currencies like the Euro. Elsewhere in news today......the Canadian Loonie overtook the dollar. And if one way of ditching that currency is to exchange them for resource, commodities and stock options there will be nothing left on American shelves and no American business still American doing business. In analogical terms the computer programmer on $40/hour is an independent contractor and his contract is up for renewal. If the next job takes him overseas America will be left with the world's greatest debt and only a $7 wage to pay it.
That's why the list is appropriate.
Before joining a 'North American Union' Canada consider if you, at number 15 and in the black, really want to sidle up to your poorer red-dipped, debt-riddled cousin in the south and at the bottom of the list. - amunimanghi, on 10/10/2007, -1/+66My first instinct was to scroll down to the bottom of the list to see if the U.S. was there...
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -5/+62consdidering China has units dedicating to hacking im not suprised.
/red Alert 2 :) - lOvOl, on 10/10/2007, -4/+57Since the United States dollar is the de-facto world reserve currency as well as the pre-eminent military power, it is not surprising that we are also the biggest debtor nation because we can tax the rest of the world at will through inflation. This is akin to what happens when a corporation issues new shares in that the existing investors have their stock devalued. These nations which own so many of our bonds and dollars and other debt backed securities (such as mortgage companies or hedge funds investing in mortgage companies), are effectively investors who are having their stock devalued by the United States issuing more shares whenever it needs to raise more money.
The unfortunate reality to all of this for the rest of the world, is that as long as the United States is the pre-eminent military power that can project its force across the world, there are no credible alternatives to the dollar. The euro is a joke so long Germany does all the hard work, while the rest of the EU sits on their ass and gets a tan, plus the fact that the EU has no credible and unified military to speak of.
The golden rule is "he who has the gold, makes the rules" but in reality today it would be more accurate to say "he who has the guns, makes the rules" because every currency on earth is a fiat backed currency that in one way or another is priced relative to the dollar.
The United States will have to first kill itself (it is doing a great job of it at the moment through its cultural decadence of extravagance with $30,000 weddings being the norm and short-sighted thinking with regards to education), before the dollar loses favor to some other currency, which again is hard to imagine considering they are all fiat currencies as well and traded relative to the dollar. Unless Europe or a European/Russian alliance challenge United States supremacy, don't count on the dollar becoming completely worthless anytime soon.
If the United States dollar goes down the poop shoot, then it will take the whole world economy along with it. If Russia, China, or the EU have any real plans for bringing America to its knees (which I am sure they do), they realize that when the collapse comes (which will be global), they need to just make sure they come out relatively better off than America both economically and militarily, or else the dollar will remain the world's reserve currency.
I am far more worried about the United States education system not being as adept at churning out high-tech talent that our military depends on for its supremacy as well as the lazy attitude we have towards espionage than pretty much anything else in the long-term, though second to that would be the worry that Bush's policies with our military lately are having a corrosive effect that will have long-term consequences to recruitment.
We simply can't go to a draft because any modern military worth a grain of salt has a professional army. However, if you underpay and abuse your professional army like we have been doing lately, then it is logical to assume that retention and recruitment will become a serious problem. If America ever returns to the draft, then our military will in effect be no better than the second-rate militaries of most of the rest of the world. - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -8/+60If the US doesn't pay off it's debts...the rest of the world is screwed...
- murty, on 10/10/2007, -0/+50WOW! Australia is forth to bottom, how...? All we do is have barbecues and scratch our arses...
- Shigglyboo, on 10/10/2007, -20/+69according to conservative talk radio and the TV we're one of the richest countries on the planet with the best health care in the world.
this list says we're the most poor nation in the world.
I guess conquering the world might be in our best interest... - zombies187, on 10/10/2007, -2/+41In soviet Russia, copy pastes you!
- vault, on 10/10/2007, -10/+46Stop interrupting the pity party with your logic and reason. To this questionably sane soap-opera loving crowd, the US is a third world country on a downward spiral into fascism. They use their computers that capitalism made possible to complain on the internet that capitalism made possible about how much capitalism sucks.
- blitzer, on 10/10/2007, -3/+38Actually.. the people outside the US have the money. You just have the crap you bought.
It other words "All your crappy Chinese toys are belong to us"
Unless, of course, you are writting from China.. :) - Error601, on 10/10/2007, -5/+40Why did I know there would be a bunch of retards that don't know what account balance means yet feel compelled to comment and show their ignorance? If you think it's related to the national debt, you're one of the clueless.
- dillibob, on 10/10/2007, -7/+41wow, ***** nigeria has more cash than us
- h4ppymac, on 10/10/2007, -4/+31Who would've know a third world country was richer than the US, wait all the third world countries are...
- Kugellehr, on 10/10/2007, -2/+28Clinton brought it back up from the damn republican spending. Then here came bush and his 200billion dollar a month iraq war. Woops we're back in the *****.
freakin republican idiots. All patriotism and greed and no brains. - Daedalus17, on 10/10/2007, -53/+78Umm do any of you realize this doesn't mean anything? What matters is your ratio of debt to what you are able to pay not the total amount of debt. Here is an easy way to think about it: Imagine if someone working at McDonalds is making $7.00 an hour has $300 in the bank? Can you say this person is in better financial shape then a computer software programmer who makes $40 an hour but has $400 on his credit card? Looking at the total amount of debt tells you nothing. China is like the guy working at McDonalds and the U.S. is like the computer programmer. Hope this clears things up for the economically challenged.
- brjndr, on 10/10/2007, -2/+27If you owe the bank a million dollars, the bank owns you.
If you owe the bank a trillion dollars, you own the bank. - johnlandes, on 10/10/2007, -0/+25Better hope China lubes up
- DeFex, on 10/10/2007, -0/+24CRIKEY dingoes got our money!
- NikoKun, on 10/10/2007, -0/+24We're more in debt, than any other country is in wealth... LOL
And it's a pretty big margin at that... sheesh... - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -4/+27i prefer this visual aid. really puts it in a better perspective. This really puts a strain our "richest nation on the planet" claim.
yeah we are 'rich' all right; rich like the rapper in the video with the mink coat, the gold rope, the mansion on the island and the italian sports car...
all hat, no cattle
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_cur_acc_bal- ... - Buddhist, on 10/10/2007, -1/+23"Sobering" is probably a light term for being more than $760,000,000,000 in debt than the next closest, Spain. That's not even mentioning that all of our "enemy" countries are much higher on the ladder than us fiscally (China, Russia, Iraq, Iran, Libya, and Venezuela are all in the top 25), which is never a good sign (though not wholly comparable, see Germany post-WW1).
- jmpeagle, on 10/10/2007, -4/+23sigh, this is a huge problem but judging by the comments here, no one here actually knows what it means
- myFriendDerrik, on 10/10/2007, -1/+20Hey Japan, could I like, borrow a couple bucks? I'll totally pay you back. Thanks.
- happytedium, on 10/10/2007, -0/+18Just look at how crazy that gap is. Spain at -98 billion, then the US at -862 billion. ***** insane.
- wmarkusen, on 10/10/2007, -1/+19Well, the ice cubes are melting so I guess we're all screwed.
- iVision, on 10/10/2007, -1/+19They have a lot of oil, and love to scam dumb Americans.
- wittyname, on 10/10/2007, -4/+22And we think we rule the world.
- Kles, on 10/10/2007, -2/+19This might be the dumbest comment I've ever read. Sorry if that's condescending, but seriously. Think about what you just typed.
- DeFex, on 10/10/2007, -2/+19the gold is probably gone. replaced by gold painted chinese lead.Dick probably has it.
- wmarkusen, on 10/10/2007, -0/+17Umm, take another look at the list. We're at the bottom. ALL countries (including Nigeria) have more cash than us.
- wmarkusen, on 10/25/2007, -2/+19I think we all understood your obvious point before you even stated it. You fail to address the fact that as the VALUE of our dollar plummets, the ability to pay off our debt hardens. Also, as profitable American companies continue to be bought up by foreign companies and governments, our ability to pay off the debt hardens. There are many other factors contributing to this downward spiral but I'm too depressed to mention those right now. I'm looking for an opportunity to relocate to Germany. I was before I even saw this Wiki article. Life is going to worsen in the US over the next decade at least.
- TenebrousX, on 10/10/2007, -1/+18I have a bad feeling about this
- centran, on 10/10/2007, -1/+17When I clicked that link I immediately thought... well I will just scroll to the bottom to find the US. Even though I knew where to look I was still very shocked.
- oesj, on 10/10/2007, -4/+20has nothing to do with the dollar. it's just listed in USD, as it's the closest thing to a universal currency.
- AntBing, on 10/10/2007, -0/+16If you dont think we have units dedicated to hacking you are sorely mistaken.
- taotehue, on 10/25/2007, -2/+18actually i would say that china is the guy behind the bank counter and the U.S. is the guy taking out the loan. Puts a little bit better perspective on you analogy there.
- subterfuge, on 10/10/2007, -2/+17it will if you're china
- jmpeagle, on 10/10/2007, -2/+16this is the result of consumers, not the government. Americans are buying more goods than they produce (approximately 6% more)
- barc0001, on 10/10/2007, -0/+14Er, no. We have a DEBT, but not a deficit. The debt is money we owe overall. The deficit, which is what this list means by "current account balance" is the amount that each country is overspending (or not) THIS year based on their budget. We have a budget surplus this year, like we've had for many years, and each year we put several billion dollars towards paying it down. A comparison of Canada and the US in this behavior:
In the US, they have a debt of 9 TRILLION dollars. This year they are 800 billion over budget(deficit) and climbing, so by this time next year, excluding interest, they will have a 9.8 trillion dollar debt.
In Canada, we have a debt around 600 billion dollars, but we service all of the interest on that, and on top of that, we've paid an average of 5 billion/year of it off over the last 10 years.
So to put that in perspective, the US has just added more debt to itself this year alone than Canada has rung up in its entire existance. - wmarkusen, on 10/10/2007, -2/+15As if America isn't riddled with corruption?
- mrboratsagdiev, on 10/10/2007, -8/+21And so many people want universal healthcare? Good luck paying for that.
Besides, would you trust your life to a group that's $800B in debt with inept management? Yeah, mull that little fact over for a moment.
Where's that money going to come from, after all? The sky? A genie? The spirit of Doug Henning? - Daedalus17, on 10/10/2007, -5/+18Are you attempting to argue that Debt/GDP is a worse indicator of economic health than total amount of debt? Has anyone on Digg ever taken anything above an entry level econ course?
- NikoKun, on 10/10/2007, -2/+14Good god... we're last? LOL
And in last place: United States -862,300
Boy we're screwed... - GasAddict, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13I thought that was C&C Generals :)
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12While I hate the Ron Paul spam in completely unrelated articles, surely you've got to be ***** kidding me in thinking that Ron Paul wants to *reduce* freedom...
- Rikushix, on 10/10/2007, -4/+16I expected the US to be pretty deep in the red, but not at the very bottom.
- Pingspike, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11Interesting. Didn't expect the UK to be all the way down there.
- sparrowkc, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11...I think I understand everything now...
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