QotD: "The world has so much debt that the cracks could happen anywhere... "

"The world has so much debt that the cracks could happen anywhere... If debt were a drug, we would outlaw it. But we also know that people get hooked on illegal drugs all the time... [So we have too much] debt and (not much) deleveraging."~ John Mauldin, who says the Debt Clock is Ticking

"Any economist can paint a rosy picture by, for example, showing rising GDP. If you object that debt is rising with GDP, the economist switches to a chart of debt/GDP. He will tell you that the solution is to grow GDP with the right fiscal and regulatory policies.
    "However, we can look at how much additional GDP is added for each newly-borrowed dollar. This is called marginal productivity of debt. This [below] shows a clear picture, a secular decline over many decades... this is a long-term falling trend."
~ Keith Weiner on the Falling Productivity of Debt

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