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A comment on Debt Worldwide Hits Record $86k per Person. Parent comment

Re:Debt Worldwide Hits Record $86k per Person by kijin on Saturday December 15, 2018 @04:30AM (#18687760)
A owes $100 to B. B owes $80 to C. C owes $80 to D. D owes $90 to E. Total debt is $350.

A pays $100 to B. B keeps $20 and pays $80 to C. C pays $80 to D. D adds $10 of his own money to pay $90 to E. Everyone's debt has been repaid, but only $110 of currency is needed for all these transactions to take place -- assuming all debts are paid in cash. All you need is sufficient liquidity.

I could loan you five quadrillion dollars provided that you also loan me five quadrillion dollars. No currency has changed hands, but we've just increased the world's total outstanding debt by ten quadrillion dollars!

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Re:Debt Worldwide Hits Record $86k per Person by posix_me_less on Sunday December 16, 2018 @05:54AM (#18692570)
This is like summing up temperatures of stars. It makes no sense to do that.

When you have a group of subjects that are indebted to another, separate subject, then it makes sense to calculate the total debt.

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