PS: Extracting wealth from other people is a meaningless transaction when summing the net impact of every person.
PS: Extracting wealth from other people is a meaningless transaction when summing the net impact of every person.
This inconveniently conflicts with the old focus on economic output, the 1950s baritone-narrated black and white documentary of assembly lines and all the production numbers going up - progress!
Instead, the dude in the wilderness might hint at a happy and fulfilled life based on limited ressources.
Debt / GDP ~= 4 years. That doesn't sound insane, particularly if much of that debt is secured, but I'm not any sort of financial analyst.
Of course the other issue is that my personal "gdp" runs out when I retire - thus I have to pay capital as well as interest to continue to own the asset afterwards. That doesn't apply to countries.