The Coming Global Debt Write-Off

You heard it here first:  there isn’t any other way out. 

You probably think the financial mess can’t get worse. But if the world economy is Thelma and Louise, none of us have even seen the chasm yet, but we still know it’s there (and how the story ends).

Let me propose the following:  THERE IS NO WAY TO ‘GROW’ OURSELVES OUT OF THIS CRISIS.  The same applies to the rest of the global economy.  The numbers are too big – frankly, insurmountable.  Sooner or later, Obama, the G20 nations, and everybody else is going to have to face the fact that DEBT WILL HAVE TO BE WRITTEN OFF in order for any of us to survive this mess.  Unless we want soup lines and “brother can you spare a dime?” signs littering CNN, there isn’t any other choice.  Here’s why.

In order to avoid a total, all-out ‘Grand Depression’ the Treasury and Congress have created a bail out package which, so far, hasn’t bailed out anybody of any importance (namely, you and me, the real ‘engines’ behind the U.S. economy).  My guess is, nobody wants to trump Obama before he takes the oath in January, despite his protestations that something should be done now, not later.  The current thinking is, if action is taken that doesn’t square with Obama & Team don’t approve of, the blame will fall squarely on the outgoing team.  However, if no additional action is taken, the blame will still fall on the current administration, and you can bet Paulson will take the brunt of it.  Regardless, let me outline the reasons that NO PLAN is going to ever reduce the debt load currently faced – and I mean not just the U.S. debt, but the total debt of all industrialized nations (and some not so industrialized).  The facts as they stand now:

• American consumer debt, largely un-payable at the current earnings levels, is $2.5 trillion and climbing
• Emerging and developing nations nearly doubled their outstanding debt between 2000 and 2008, to nearly 5 trillion projected for 2009 (Source:  IMF.org)
• Central and Eastern Europe quadrupled their debt load during this same period, from roughly $300 billion to $1.1 trillion – an enormous figure for traditionally weak economies (Source:  IMF.org)
• Even in the U.K., the debt load increased $60 billion pounds in just the last 6 months, upping the total debt load to more than half a trillion pounds this year alone.

Just a couple weeks ago, in case you missed it, Federal bank regulators in the U.S. recently rejected a request, brought mostly by consumer advocates, to let lenders forgive huge portions of credit card debt. This would have been a huge first step to avoiding the “Grand Recession,” but let’s face it – sooner or later, it’s going to be done.  It HAS to be done. 

The staggering amount of world debt is insurmountable.  Emerging countries are powerless to control their economic fate when lending is severely curtailed (as it is now).  The approximate household debt level for each American has risen to roughly $535,000 (that’s the total American debt figure divided by all of us who can, ostensibly, pay).

So what to do?  Here’s what I think:

• Reference the post World War I (and II) debt write-off’s.  After Hitler’s defeat, Germany was destitute, as was much of Europe.  Instead of forcing war reparations on Germany (the notorious prime cause of Hitler’s rise), this time debt was forgiven so Germany could rebuild.
• Think globally.  Every nation is going to have to write down debt AND trade in a more balanced manner, similar to what Lord Keynes proposed before Bretton Woods.  More importantly, if Keynes had his way, we would have a global currency and a more or less “equivalent” balance of trade with other nations, instead of see-sawing trade deficits and surpluses.
• Write off at least 10 percent of consumer credit card debt.  You’re never going to get it back anyway (not to mention it was feloniously acquired by predatory lenders … who ever heard of a 29.99 percent loan for a TV at Best Buy?  Or worse yet, a loan that KEEPS INCREASING THE PRICE OF THE ASSET PURCHASED BECAUSE LENDERS KEEP INCREASING, POST PURCHASE, THE RATE ON YOUR TOTAL CREDIT CARD DEBT, REGARDLESS OF THE RATE YOU HAD WHEN THE ORIGINAL ITEM WAS PURCHASED?
• Move toward a global currency.  This, too, is inevitable.  Keynes had it right, but we botched it in favor of OUR OWN SELF INTEREST … again.  This time, let’s get it right.
• Devalue the U.S. dollar, just as FDR did.  Short term hurt, long term gain.  It helped end the first Great Depression, and if we use it wisely, we can avoid the Grand Depression.

Mark my words.  Debt reduction via massive global write-off’s is coming.  There isn’t any other way out.