Indy Telecom & Industrial Media

Debt as GDP % for the top 20 debtor nations — if you notice, despite our high debt, we are quite a bit lower on the totem pole.

Data was sourced from Index Mundi.

So, more debt stuff. Here’s a chart showing the comparison of debt between the US, China and the World, with percentages.

Data was sourced from Index Mundi.

Based on my previous debt pie chart, I’ve had several people ask me for a population comparison on the side. I’ve done one better – here’s a chart showing debt owed per person.

And shown below is a comparison of percentage debt with the percentage population. Click on the population chart to view a bigger version with values added.

Data was sourced from Index Mundi and Wolfram Alpha.

Here’s a comparison of world debt by percentage. Data is sourced from Index Mundi.

Interesting visualization of national debts from Wolfram Alpha.

An interesting point to consider is the presence of such high levels of debt in much of the developed (and developing) world, compared to  the underdeveloped nations. For instance, the top nations in debt are US, Japan, Italy, Germany and France.

And an even more interesting visualization is the comparison of debt vs. the GDP, which is provided by this graph -

What do folks think the next big market bubble to burst?

Here are some choices that I’ve heard floating around –

1. Debt bubble (bonds) — A friend recently commented that at a recent investor meeting, this was raised as the next bubble that could burst. On one hand, some folks think that the fed could do negative interest rates, and on the other, a lot of European investors are supposedly preparing to to short the U.S. government bond market in anticipation of much higher interest rates in the coming months. If you want to see signs that bonds have jumped the shark, look no further than State Street’s new offering, first convertible bond ETF of its kind.
2. Gold — This has been a long time coming. The sooner the better, I feel. It is a commodity that has been overvalued beyond measure, and the current market isn’t helping. And just have a look at the number of gold ETFs out there.
3. Sovereign default –To quote PD, while it is unlikely that the Fed, ECB and the BOE will let this happen, we are on the precipitous edge.
4. Fall of a big bull – Another friend who’s a hedge fund manager quoted that bear market will not end until one of the big bulls of this era gets run over, and until a new bull takes the place. He thinks it could be Warren Buffet.

Personally, I’m more concerned about 1 and 2 (2 is a great shorting opportunity and 1 is a scary thought).  3 is unlikely, and 4 — well, let’s say I’m holding back on 4.

Excellent talk by Juan Enriquez on the current economic crisis. A very insightful and refreshing take on the current state of affairs, and how we got here.

Juan Enriquez (2008) Pop!Tech Pop!Cast from PopTech on Vimeo.

(Courtesy Paul Kedrosky)

Given a society of credit card borrowers and debt-laden folks trying to live beyond their means, it was bound to happen eventually.

Turns out that the National Debt Clock has run out of digits to show our current national debt. It is a sad, sad state of affa