IMF Projects Some Out-of-This-World National Debts

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has produced the debt predictions for the year 2014 given below.  The chart is from the 27 March - 2 April 2010 issue of The Economist.  The bar graph plot is actually of the increase in the national debt from 2007 to the projected debt of 2014, which is given in the small boxes on the right as a percent of the nations GDPs.

The United States IMF-projected increase in the national debt from 2007, when the Democrats were in their first year of controlling Congress, looks to be about 47% between then and 2014.  Both Japan and Great Britain will have added even more to their national debts, but note that the U.S. has recently been much more profligate in its overspending than even such stalwart socialist countries as France, Germany, and Italy.  While Japan's projected 2014 national debt will guarantee its sluggish growth for decades as it struggles under an unimaginable debt 246% greater than its GDP, the projected national debt of the U.S. at 108% of GDP will make us stagger a good deal also.  We will wind up with a national debt worse than that of Britain, France, and Germany, each of which we recognize as irresponsible socialist countries.  What does this make the U.S.?

Kudos belong to Canada, which has been much wiser in managing its economy throughout this recession.  It is increasing its national debt by only about 5% from 2007 to 2014 and its 2014 national debt will be a mere 69% of its GDP.  That should position Canada for solid growth in the near future and leave Canadians much less burdened with debt and the interest on that debt than the wayward Americans to the south.  It looks as though I would be wise to shift some of my retirement investment to Canada, where it may be safer and have better prospects for growth.