That's not absolute debt, that is debt relative to GDP as a percentage. Its a me... | Hacker News

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		zanny on Jan 21, 2016 \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: Why Are Corporations Hoarding Trillions? That's not absolute debt, that is debt relative to GDP as a percentage. Its a measure of, effectively, how long it would take the US to pay off its debt if it forced itself to operate in the green, since there is a limit on how much you can tax out of an economy without causing it to contract, and GDP is a flawed but relative measure of what you can potentially tax.

forgetsusername on Jan 21, 2016 [–]

So where is the equivalent graph showing the rate of growth of assets as a percentage of GDP?

It's one sided accounting that people love to trot out as a big scary thing. The net worth of the US is growing; what else matters?

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