Re:Debt Worldwide Hits Record $86k per Person
by dragonwriter on Friday December 14, 2018 @04:00PM
(#18684704)
> Does anyone actually still believe that these debts will all someday be repayed?
Approximately no one, in all of history, has ever believed that all debt on the globe would be repaid, so “still” is inappropriate. This is why we have interest, debt jubilees, bankruptcy laws, legal provisions for discharge of certain debt separate from bankruptcy, negotiated debt modifications (and laws which facilitate them), security for debt (and in some cases limitations on collections beyond the security) and numerous other current and historical features of society.
> Does anyone even believe that the amount of debt will go down, rather than up, over the course of any length of time?
Why should it? The number of people is increasing, as is their average economic output, as is (globally, and in long-term trend) lifespan. So real (much less nominal) aggregate debt can increase over time with no meaningful change to what the average person owes (and is owed) as a proportion of their expected future output.
Approximately no one, in all of history, has ever believed that all debt on the globe would be repaid, so “still” is inappropriate. This is why we have interest, debt jubilees, bankruptcy laws, legal provisions for discharge of certain debt separate from bankruptcy, negotiated debt modifications (and laws which facilitate them), security for debt (and in some cases limitations on collections beyond the security) and numerous other current and historical features of society.
> Does anyone even believe that the amount of debt will go down, rather than up, over the course of any length of time?
Why should it? The number of people is increasing, as is their average economic output, as is (globally, and in long-term trend) lifespan. So real (much less nominal) aggregate debt can increase over time with no meaningful change to what the average person owes (and is owed) as a proportion of their expected future output.