Here's a frightening chart: it shows total US credit market debt (money that has been borrowed by all levels of government, as well as by corporations, and individuals) as a percentage of US gross domestic product (GDP = the total dollar value per year of all goods and services- that is, a measure of how much 'value' there is as measured by how much has actually been paid for stuff). Basically, it is like measuring how much you owe versus how much you spent in a year. Although most people owe more than they spend in any year (easy to do if you have a mortgage), it is generally not good to owe many times more than you can spend...you can't reasonably borrow a million dollars if you have only $50K per year of spending power, because you will never make enough to pay it back.
Look at the Great Depression years, then the years in-between, then the current time.
Yikes.
Click the image for a larger view. For more (but complicated) information and the source, click here.
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