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As a follow up to my little piece yesterday, I would like to continue looking at this issue of debt that our country and so may others are faced with... And as a response to a semi critic, Yes, debt is an issue everybody is aware of, but the problem is that not everyone is aware of how big a problem it actually is, and while South Africa isn't in as much debt as many of the other countries around the world, it is something that if not addressed correctly before things get too wildly out of hand ould lead to dire consequences for South Africa as a whole. To paraphrase a hit song, it would be the end of the world as many know it.
I did a little bit of reading, and here's a few figure I found to put thngs in context in a way:
Country Debt Debt/Person
Brazil $1.4 Trillion $7000
Greece $379 Billion $35000
USA $18.3 Trillion $57000
Germany $2.2 Trillion $27000
France $2.7 Trillion $41000
UK $2.3 Trillion $36000
Austrailia $410 Billion $17000
South Africa $145 Billion $2900
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So looking at the figures above, one can see that South Africa is doing quite well compared to many other countries around the world, with regards to debt per person, but I fear that if we aren't careful we will fall into unrecoverable debt as did Zimbabwe and most recently Greece.
Essentially if we don't squandering our wealth and resources (what little we actually have), we will end up getting the country sold off to the highest bidder to recoup the debt. This is what I expect to see happening in the US at some point,, ironically Russia and China hold over half their debt currently, and at the rate it's growing I don't see any way they will ever repay it. This is the stuation tthe west would love South Africa to be in as it would benefit them in the long run.
So beware the debt trap, and watch the stats and figures, or within the next decade or two you will wake up to an extremely harsh reality as the Greek have been recently...
I did a little bit of reading, and here's a few figure I found to put thngs in context in a way:
Country Debt Debt/Person
Brazil $1.4 Trillion $7000
Greece $379 Billion $35000
USA $18.3 Trillion $57000
Germany $2.2 Trillion $27000
France $2.7 Trillion $41000
UK $2.3 Trillion $36000
Austrailia $410 Billion $17000
South Africa $145 Billion $2900
--------------------------------------------
So looking at the figures above, one can see that South Africa is doing quite well compared to many other countries around the world, with regards to debt per person, but I fear that if we aren't careful we will fall into unrecoverable debt as did Zimbabwe and most recently Greece.
Essentially if we don't squandering our wealth and resources (what little we actually have), we will end up getting the country sold off to the highest bidder to recoup the debt. This is what I expect to see happening in the US at some point,, ironically Russia and China hold over half their debt currently, and at the rate it's growing I don't see any way they will ever repay it. This is the stuation tthe west would love South Africa to be in as it would benefit them in the long run.
So beware the debt trap, and watch the stats and figures, or within the next decade or two you will wake up to an extremely harsh reality as the Greek have been recently...
