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Unsurprisingly, the same word in Swedish is skuld, with the same double meaning.

As an Australian living in Germany I've got to point out that finances in Germany are just as dysfunctional as Australia. Just in completely opposing ways. Both are a burden on sustainable growth and development.

For some examples of Germany's issues it's worth looking at the weak state of retail banking (Deutsche Bank / Commerzbank proposed merger), and the financial scandals.

The Germans are so spooked by debt they rather hand the debt to weaker countries even though the German economy can sustain much higher debt levels than their neighbors. It's completely backwards.