Letters: Who owns the world's debt?

Debt has been the downfall of the world for centuries, writes a reader. Photo / 123RF

I hear that America is in debt to the amount of $21 trillion and rising.

It also appears that all other countries in the world are in debt, so the question is who is lending the money for these debts, is it the top 1 per cent of the wealthy people or the banks with their funny money, eg IOUs on paper only until the debt is paid with interest?

One must consider that land, buildings, cars and other goods must be held as security for debt, so it would appear very little is owned and paid for by the world's population, which leads me to believe that vast numbers of people worldwide spend much of their income on the servicing of interest and debt, to me a very profitable business for the lender to be in, to take advantage of fool borrowers.

One has to believe that what is produced worldwide is not enough to cover the costs to produce the goods, that's why debt is increasing; so what happens when the world runs out of security for loans?

Yes, debt has been the downfall for many people around the world for centuries, and appears to be becoming a greater risk as we face troubled times ahead, regardless of what our politicians or banks claim.

Yes, the above two claim they have everything in control, and yes they have, as when things go belly-up it is the people who can least afford to pay that feel the pain of corrupt management and practices.

I do believe that over the years the financial bubbles we have experienced are nothing to what we face in the future, as it is not a case of if but when. Yes, there will be many ups and downs in world-wide economies, before the big one comes, but I believe it is coming, and millions are going to feel the results.

Yes, low interest rates are a good means to con people to borrow, and a profitable trap by the lenders to increase interest rates once they have enough people caught in their evil scheme, of live now, pay later.

One would believe our economies would be reducing our dependence on debt, not increasing debt as appears the case, so I smell a rat in our present system, not in our best interests.

JOHN BASSETT
Diggers' Valley