Is a personal debt crisis dangerous?
It has been alarming to hear not only of individuals in debt, but also news of countries teetering on the brink of bankruptcy has sent a shudder through the entire world. For too long, governments have spent foolishly and have failed to curb reckless investments by banks and financial institutions. The result, precipitated by the credit collapse of 2008, has been that massive debts have been incurred that have left even the International Monetary Fund with worrying problems on their minds and many countries feeling that the problem had reached irremediable proportions.
Austerity measures, deeply unpopular with the citizens of the countries affected, have had to be introduced before financial "bale-outs" could be sanctioned by leading economies. Public services have had to be slashed; public assets have had to be sold off and other draconian measures have been introduced to alleviate, even in a very small way, this mammoth problem. The result has been a debt crisis of unprecedented severity that has left some countries saddled with debts that could never be paid, amounting to many trillions of dollars; figures that are incomprehensible.