Have you ever heard the theory that a little debt is a good thing?
With businesses, investing borrowed money can help the company grow, and give returns greater than the interest on the debt.
With countries, the theory goes, a little debt means other countries have a vested interest in your success or failure. For example, why hasn't China invaded the USA yet? Perhaps they are waiting until they get their ~$4T back! :)
Well for starters, the Chinese don't seem to really be in the business of invading countries on the opposite side of the world, do they? Unlike another little country I can think of...
For example, why hasn't China invaded the USA yet? Perhaps they are waiting until they get their ~$4T back! :)
theoretically it is fairly easy to repay those $4T. you would need some large container ship to transport all of them back to China, but a lot of those go back over Pacific fairly empty anyway.
With businesses, investing borrowed money can help the company grow, and give returns greater than the interest on the debt.
With countries, the theory goes, a little debt means other countries have a vested interest in your success or failure. For example, why hasn't China invaded the USA yet? Perhaps they are waiting until they get their ~$4T back! :)