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Student Loans In US More Than China’s Total External Debt

32 points by newernpguy 13y ago

seanmcdirmid 13y ago
Well, as long as we don't want to talk about China's internal local government debts...which is all coming out of our savings (hence...internal debt). Sheesh.
themgt 13y ago
So the United States has built a society in which its (former) students owe the government and large financial corporations more money than the government of China owes the rest of the world. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but it sure sounds self-destructive.
- nknighthb 13y ago
  It means absolutely nothing. As the first sentence of the article says, "a comparison like that does not make any sense". US student debt is ridiculous, but comparing it to the external debt of an export-heavy sovereign doesn't help anyone's understanding. It only perpetuates magical thinking.
  - levosmetalo 13y ago
    The comparison is not done for the sake of drawing any conclusion about China debt, it was just to "visualize" how big the debt is. I guess the author could have compared it with the value of total beer production in the world in the last decade, but comparing this debt with the debt of the biggest country in the world gives better impression how big the debt is, at least to someone that thinks there are to many zeroes there. EDIT: s/depth/debt/g ;)
    - nknighthb 13y ago
      The numbers are meaningless without context, and in context, the comparison is meaningless. External debt can be huge or tiny. Luxembourg, population 524,853, has 2.14 trillion in external debt, or >2.7 times China's. While China's per-capita external debt is just $396, to the US's $52,170. Or how about Monaco, population 36,371, external debt, 16.5 billion. You could add a couple more zeros by denominating the external debt in cents instead of dollars, and comparing it to student debt in dollars, and it would be exactly as useful.
cmsmith 13y ago
New headline: My car loan is more than the net external debt of Norway (which is negative).
- sliverstorm 13y ago
  Or how about the more straightforward: "Cherry-picking statistics for fun and profit"

32 points by newernpguy 13y ago

Well, as long as we don't want to talk about China's internal local government debts...which is all coming out of our savings (hence...internal debt). Sheesh.

themgt 13y ago

So the United States has built a society in which its (former) students owe the government and large financial corporations more money than the government of China owes the rest of the world. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but it sure sounds self-destructive.

nknighthb 13y ago
It means absolutely nothing. As the first sentence of the article says, "a comparison like that does not make any sense". US student debt is ridiculous, but comparing it to the external debt of an export-heavy sovereign doesn't help anyone's understanding. It only perpetuates magical thinking.
- levosmetalo 13y ago
  The comparison is not done for the sake of drawing any conclusion about China debt, it was just to "visualize" how big the debt is. I guess the author could have compared it with the value of total beer production in the world in the last decade, but comparing this debt with the debt of the biggest country in the world gives better impression how big the debt is, at least to someone that thinks there are to many zeroes there. EDIT: s/depth/debt/g ;)
  - nknighthb 13y ago
    The numbers are meaningless without context, and in context, the comparison is meaningless. External debt can be huge or tiny. Luxembourg, population 524,853, has 2.14 trillion in external debt, or >2.7 times China's. While China's per-capita external debt is just $396, to the US's $52,170. Or how about Monaco, population 36,371, external debt, 16.5 billion. You could add a couple more zeros by denominating the external debt in cents instead of dollars, and comparing it to student debt in dollars, and it would be exactly as useful.

cmsmith 13y ago

New headline: My car loan is more than the net external debt of Norway (which is negative).

sliverstorm 13y ago
Or how about the more straightforward: "Cherry-picking statistics for fun and profit"