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I believe the stock HN response to mathematically certain sovereign debt disaster is either "print your way out" or "grow your way out".

• ekianjo 11y ago
  > is either "print your way out" I have yet to see any country which was able to get to an actual way out by inflating their currency. Reality always catches up.
  • antome 11y ago
    Germany made their way out after WWI, but lets just say the results weren't pretty. At least from historical precedent, it seems the best solution is to "cheat" your way out, by massively inflating a currency, then if hyperinflation kicks in, create a new currency in quick succession.
  • Symmetry 11y ago
    Huh, there are plenty of examples. Italy did it more than once, for example. But it isn't obvious whether its better to inflate or to default - both are painful and you need to be running a surplus barring interest payments or they might be disastrous.
  • JamesBarney 11y ago
    The U.K went from a debt to gdp ratio of 225% to a low of 33%.[0] The U.S. went from a debt to gdp ratio of 120% down to 37%.[1] This isn't the first time countries have had to run large deficits. [0]http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/11697/debt/post-war-boom/ http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/11697/debt/post-war-boom/ [1]http://dailybail.com/home/chart-us-debt-to-gdp-1940-2015.html http://dailybail.com/home/chart-us-debt-to-gdp-1940-2015.htm...
    • jazzyk 11y ago
      In the US case, it "only" took 40+ years - and now we are sadly almost back at 100%+
      • JamesBarney 11y ago
        Which is not quite as long as it's been since the time we had a recession of this magnitude.
• deleted 11y ago
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