>Comparing a government's debt to its GDP is like comparing a couple's debt to their employers' total revenues. The country's government doesn't own all its res

>Comparing a government's debt to its GDP is like comparing a couple's debt to their employers' total revenues. The country's government doesn't own all its residents' property, and is usually unable take their income streams. Doesn't matter, since it's a relative comparison, not an absolute one. And as a proxy of the severity of the issue it's good. The government might not take "all its residents' property, and is usually unable take their income streams", but getting part of those is exactly where it gets the money to pay the debt (plus printing money, with its own side-effects).