By some measures the US government debt situation is worse than the Eurozone periphery

[Owlet]

"If one were to make a quick comparison of the US budget situation to that of the other highly indebted nations, would the US stand out? Most rightfully point to the deficit number. It's a horrible situation for the US, though if measured as a percentage of the GDP, the US' 8.6% number is not materially different from say Japan, the UK, and Greece, though higher than Spain, Portugal, and particularly Italy (which is just under 4%). It's sad, but at least the US has some "company" in its "misery".

But this deficit comparison breaks down if the governments' revenue is viewed as a percentage of what it spends. On that basis, the US is actually worse than any of the Eurozone periphery nations as well as the UK and Japan. The US government generates some 65 cents for every dollar it spends, while even Greece has managed to keep that number above 80 cents."

We have a taxing problem, Mr. Boehner: not just a spending problem.



http://soberlook.com/2012/02/by-some-measures-us-debt-situation-is.html

[xchrom]

1. tax the rich, close the corporate loop holes, renegotiate our trade treaties,

seriously cut the MIC.

then lets see where we are.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Another way to look at the debt issue:

the debt-to-GDP ratio is one of the indicators of the health of an economy.

"The 2011 gross debt-to-GDP ratio in the US was about 110%.

The level of public debt in Japan in 2010 was 225.8% of GDP."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt-to-GDP_ratio"

Another Wiki source, measuring TOTAL US Debt:
"total public debt outstanding at a ratio of 101.8% of GDP"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt

so both of those figures above line up pretty closely.