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So, according to your link, Chinese 'total' debt is about on par with the rest of the world? And this is cause for extra concern? Despite the fact they have v

• adventured 11y ago
  The reason it's cause for extra concern is two fold. First, their accumulation has been extraordinarily rapid. A pace the likes of which the world has never seen before. Second, it's still climbing rapidly. If you combine these elements with: the command economy approach; the likelihood that their debt is even higher due to shadow debt; that the government is making the wrong choice and is propping up the mess ala Japan's mistake with zombies; and that all of their other economic data is heading south as they're continuing the debt accumulation (including a rapid bleed-off of foreign reserves, half of which they can't use anyway) - the sum picture you get is economically frightening and very unstable compared to the debt picture in eg Australia, the US, or Germany. Finally, to make matters a lot worse, China still has a billion very poor people and almost no social safety net. How is China going to deal with their rapidly aging population (which will demand far greater total care expense with each passing year), while already being more in debt than other developed nations?
  • fspeech 11y ago
    You don't seem to realize that the companies' debts are the people's assets. There are two ways to invest in a company, directly holding shares or lending it money.