The ranking of countries by total external debt is informative - in addition to their place on the list, one must consider the ability of a given country to pay both it's debt and it's debt service (interest on it's debt) All this and minimize more expensive borrowing costs (bond yields).
Greece ranks better than France, ironically, but Greece has half their workforce in government jobs and has a junk bond rating (7% yields), and negative GDP of -4.5% (recession) - Greece is bankrupt.
Here are the worst 20 in the world, ordered best-bad to dead in the water (external debt as a % of GDP):
20. United States - 101.1%
19. Hungary - 120.1%
18. Australia - 138.9%
17. Italy - 146.6%
16. Spain - 179.4%
15. Greece - 182.2%
14. Germany - 185.1%
13. Portugal - 223.6%
12. France - 250%
11. Hong Kong - 250.4%
10. Norway - 251%
9. Austria - 261.1%
8. Finland - 271.5%
7. Sweden - 282.2%
6. Denmark - 310.4%
5. Belgium - 335.9%
4. Netherlands - 376.3%
3. Switzerland - 401.9%
2. United Kingdom - 413.3%
1. Ireland - 1,382%
Notice the rogues gallery in Europe, the Nordic countries, and the UK all deep in the doodoo. Yet the absence of China, Russia, and the entire Latin America 3rd world portends a future of powerhouses.
Thank socialism folks, the grand European experiment has failed. Obama's polling is dipping below 40% now and the fumbler-in-chief says he has just 1200 days left to go. Can we make it?.
