America Next Potugal

[reform]

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/is-america-the-next-portugal-2011-...

 

By Brett Arends

LONDON (MarketWatch) — It’s easy to watch this economic Duck Soup unfolding and think the debt crisis is entirely limited to penny-ante Freedonias in Europe.

Greece. Ireland. Now Portugal.

But do the math.

The national debts that finally drove Portugal to seek a bailout this week amounted, at the gross level, to 87% of gross domestic product, according to International Monetary Fund data.

 

The same figure for the United States of America? Try 99%.

The massive budget deficit that finally broke Portugal in the bond market: 8.6% of GDP.

America’s 2010 deficit? About 8.9%.

So maybe the question isn’t whether the next country in line is Italy or Spain. It’s whether it’s closer to home.

 

Read more at the link above.