That Gross Debt would cross 100% of GDP, equal to our entire economy, in 2020.
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In 2012 the figure for gross debt is 236.6%, for 2013 the estimate is 245%.
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In 2007 we expected out our gross debt in 2010 would be 42.5% of GDP in 2010.
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Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus and Spain also all owe investors abroad a net sum of 80-100% of GDP (the gross debt is much larger).
Our interactive graphic above shows the IMF's latest forecasts (updated in October 2012) for government gross debt as a percentage of GDP through to 2017.
An IMF paper calculates that even if the savings rate remains close to where it is now, gross debt may exceed gross household assets by 2015.
All governments lend back and forth among official entities so their gross debt is bigger than the net debt held by non-government investors, and Japan does more of this than other developed lands.
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Keeping all things equal, the country would need to grow by 7.7% a year, or nominal bond yields to fall to a Teutonic 0.5% to stabilise government gross debt at its 2011 level of 70% of GDP.
Morgan Stanley reckons that total American debt (ie, the gross debt of households, companies and the government) has risen inexorably since 1980 to more than 300% of GDP (see chart), higher than it was in the Depression.
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The IMF reckons the combined gross debt of euro-area countries will peak at 91% of GDP next year, when the ratio in Finland will be just 53%, the lowest of any euro-zone country bar Estonia and Luxembourg.
Some of it involves printing money, disguised by accounting tricks: while the government's net debt is falling its gross debt is rising, and its deficit helps to keep Brazil's interest rates high (though they are lower than a decade ago).
While adding to the government's gross debt, they have not driven up the more closely watched figure for public debt, net of assets: at 42.7% of GDP, this is back to its level of mid-2008, and is much lower than the debt burdens of European countries.
The IMF says that public sector gross debt as a percentage of GDP for the US was 91.6% last year, rising to 99.5% in 2011 and is forecast to come in at 102.9% in 2012, despite assuming that the overall fiscal deficit declines by 3 percentage points to 7.1% of GDP.
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Now, Gross National Debt as a percentage of GDP is over 100% and rising rapidly.
Our analysis compares the twelve month rate of change in real gross total debt growth versus the growth rate of real GDP.
With gross public debt at 200% of GDP, the fear is that the government will be unable to go on borrowing for ever.
As our study indicates, each recession in the past 42 years was preceded by a period of negative growth in real gross total debt.
There are exceptions to this rosy picture, the obvious one being Asia's most developed market, Japan, whose gross public debt is almost 200% of GDP.
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And the Gross Federal Debt is estimated at 107.4% of GDP.
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Gross total debt is the sum of consumer, corporate, state and municipal debt plus U.S. government debt including that portion held by Federal agencies and trusts.
To compute real debt growth, we subtract the annual rate of change of the Consumer Price Index from the rate of change of gross total debt.
Those federal IOUs are rightly accounted for in federal finances not as assets but as part of the Gross Federal Debt, subject to the national debt limit.
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Therefore, meeting Social Security obligations in August, September and all future months in this fashion would add nothing to the gross government debt subject to the debt limit.
And the Gross Federal Debt was 71.4% of our GDP.
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The IMF expects the government to run a small budget surplus this year, and gross government debt is 53% of GDP, well below that of most of its European neighbours.
The top federal tax rate was reduced from 92% to 70% by Johnson in 1964 and the Gross Federal Debt was reduced from 71.4% of GDP down to 35.6% over the next two decades.
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Also (though Mr Cable does not make this very nerdy point), it's worth remembering that the government measure - net debt - is what you get when you subtract the government's assets from its gross liabilities (debt).
He says Poland will reduce the ratio of public debt to gross domestic product this year, and is almost certain that they will eliminate "excessive" public debt.
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