Sovereign Debt
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This is the quintessential fact of politics and economics today
Since 1989, the ultra-rich have gotten $21 trillion richer while the bottom 90% (essentially everyone else) have gotten $900 billion poorer. We work on all kinds of consequential issues, including everything from gun violence prevention to universal childcare, but our primary focus is squarely on combating income inequality.
The gap between productivity and a typical worker’s compensation has increased dramatically since 1979
From 1979 to 2018, net productivity rose 69.6 percent, while the hourly pay of typical workers essentially stagnated—increasing only 11.6 percent over 39 years (after adjusting for inflation). This means that although Americans are working more productively than ever, the fruits of their labors have primarily accrued to those at the top and to corporate profits, especially in recent years.
Percent change in worker productivity vs. worker compensation
SOURCE OF THIS GRAPH
EPI analysis of unpublished Total Economy Productivity data from Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Labor Productivity and Costs program, wage data from the BLS Current Employment Statistics, BLS Employment Cost Trends, BLS Consumer Price Index, and Bureau of Economic Analysis National Income and Product Accounts
Overview
debt crisis, a situation in which a country is unable to pay back its government debt. A country can enter into a debt crisis when the tax revenues of its government are less than its expenditures for a prolonged period.
In any country, the government finances its expenditures primarily by raising money through taxation. When tax revenues are insufficient, the government can make up the difference by issuing debt. That is done primarily by selling government treasury bills in the open market to investors.
A government with a good reputation and little debt or an established track record of paying back what it has borrowed usually does not face much difficulty in finding investors who are willing to lend to it. However, if the debt load of a government becomes too large, investors begin to worry about its ability to pay back, and they start demanding higher interest rates to compensate for the higher risk. That results in an increase in the cost of borrowing for that government. As investor confidence deteriorates further over time, pushing the cost of borrowing to higher levels, the government may find it more and more difficult to roll over its existing debt and may eventually default and enter into a debt crisis.
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Debt crises can be caused by debts owed by the government or private sector (companies and households), or both. As well as the 54 countries in debt crisis, Debt Justice estimates that 14 countries are at risk of a public or private debt crisis, 22 at risk of just a private sector debt crisis, and 21 just a public sector debt crisis.
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Our analysis finds that 54 countries across the world are suffering from a debt crisis. In addition, there are 11 countries at risk of a private debt crisis, 24 countries at risk of a public debt crisis, and 19 at risk from both a private and public debt crisis.
Where are we?
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The pop of Africa is ..
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Roughly 900 mil people in Africa live in countries that spend more in debt repayments than education or health care
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More than 2 dozen countries have excessive debt or are at risk of being in one
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What does it mean to be in excessive debt?
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https://data.debtjustice.org.uk/our-analysis.php
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