We Owe Us?

I would think everyone of my generation would have had a grandmother whose grave advice "Neither a borrower nor a lender be..." still rings in their ears to this day. We are also old enough to remember Margaret Thatcher's pronouncements on managing the country's economy as if it were a household budget; balancing the books carefully and prudently, saving for a rainy day and avoiding owing money where possible. Even today, we have Rachel Reeves' 'fiscal rules', strictly adhered to - some of the time - governing levels of taxation versus state spending on social services, health and defence, to name but three. Except that is not the way the world works. All countries and their governments are in debt - massively, apart from Macao, apparently - the largest numerical government debt being the United States of America; the most powerful nation on earth, and ultimately, caller of all the shots on just about everything for just about anyone, anywhere. The country that owes the most? Japan, and nearly all of its debt is to itself. The web of monetary fiction that underlies this global house of cards is wonderfully explained by Janis Varoufakis in this YouTube piece on 'The Sharpline and The Brightline' channel: if this doesn't leave you scratching your head in confusion and gnashing your teeth at the ultimate stupidity of it all, then nothing will...