I agree with most of what you're saying. In this case, I think it's an intellectually meaningful position to point out the fundamental problems with the premise

I agree with most of what you're saying. In this case, I think it's an intellectually meaningful position to point out the fundamental problems with the premise of the initial article. The idea of summing "global debt" as though it means something really is something worthy of that sort of critique and dismissal. A bad comment would be "this is dumb" or "total debt is a stupid concept". The OP in this thread gave an intellectually clear and logic basis for dismissing the article.