How long it will take to fix the post-80s frenzy of finance?
Ponder these charts of our total debt in the credit market. The green line is government debt; red line is private debt.
Austerity policies after the crash of 1929 triggered massive unemployment and misery for 13 years. Obviously shrinking spending and budgets by 10% of GDP/year was much too rapid.
How many years do we pay down the massive accumulated debt and interest of the free market fiasco?
Japan we can see. Tackling debt since 1998 at about 6%/year, less painful than outright depression, their debt load has been reduced by half.
Stuart Staniford calculates the overall process will spin out to 2025, adding that we don’t know the appropriate speed to offload debt. And this time it’s global.