private, as the numbers i have seen is that when private debt hits something like 200% of GDP bad things starts to happen. the crazy part is that it does not e

private, as the numbers i have seen is that when private debt hits something like 200% of GDP bad things starts to happen. the crazy part is that it does not even need to be a complete halt in lending that cause it, just enough of a dip that expenses (debt repayments etc) outpace income (from the turnover of existing money plus the money coming in as newly issued loans). And the whole debt equals savings thing is a fallacy that sadly the economics profession has convinced itself is true. The Bank of England released a document a few years back that showed how private lending effectively puts new money into circulation. http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarterlybulletin/2014/qb14q102.pdf http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarte... Funny enough public debt is largely a non-issue, as long as said debt is denominated in the nation's own currency.