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IMF Sees G7 Net Debt At 200% Of GDP By 2030; 441% By 2050

Tyler Durden's picture




 

The IMF has issued a series of papers today whose sole purpose is to assuage fears that the world is headed for a sovereign default driven inferno, authored by Carlo Cottarelli and two other staffers, which concludes that markets currently "significantly overestimate"
the risk of sovereign debt default in the advanced economies. The idea for the papers, according to Cottarelli, was born out of a "sense of
frustration" after talking to two financial market analysts in Europe
who had "no focus on numbers, but more a feeling, a sensation things are
going bad and would continue to go bad." Well, actually the numbers are there, and as the IMF itself concludes G7, debt to GDP for the G7 countries which is currently 77%, will reach 200% by 2030 and 441% by 2050. But since the IMF paper is only focusing on a few months into the future, it may very well be right. In the meantime, we will stick with Morgan Stanley's recent analysis on the topic by Arnaud Mares, which concluded that sovereign defaults will happen, and likely in dramatic numbers, the only question is how.

While the bulk of the paper is nothing but a validation that the author has never read any of the works of Reinhart and Rogoff, the only relevant chart is the one below.

And yes, the very author who says, there is no need to worry about sovereign defaults, adds the following: "Under the current and future pressures on public finances—large primary gaps and rising health care and pension spending—public debt would spiral out of control in the absence of fiscal adjustment" and hilariously adds: "The surge in debt in this scenario, however, does not even take into account the possible negative  feedback effects that higher debt could have on interest rates and economic growth."

The bold section, as opposed to the several hundred of other superfluous pages, also explains why the IMF has recently expanded its key credit facility to have virtually no borrowing cap.

But aside from all of that, the "sense of frustration" or "feeling" if you will, that "things are
going bad and would continue to go bad" is certainly soothed.

In other words if one takes Jim O'Neills perpetual hockeystick projection for G7 GDP which the Goldman analysis likely sees at about $200 trillion by 2050, then associated debt will be about $1 quadrillion. Congress: have fun with that debt ceiling.

Those who wish to join the group of lemmings with a castrated feeling of frustration and imminent dread, should read the IMF papers:

and there is a third one that completes today's Koolaid trifecta, but we are too hyponotized looking at the to S&P flatline to look for it.

 

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Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:39 | 558245 Mr Lennon Hendrix
Mr Lennon Hendrix's picture

Oh boy so this means we have to grow!  Get out the shovels!  Let us pay this interest.  "Whistle while you work!"

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:40 | 558248 Hondo
Hondo's picture

And they see that as a workable, viable level???

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 18:22 | 558514 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

Sure! They're just numbers after all.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:43 | 558255 RockyRacoon
RockyRacoon's picture

Malthusian theory was debunked as well.  Can trees really grow to the sky?

There will be new financial time bombs invented to keep this puppy on track...

Or not.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:44 | 558261 Mr Lennon Hendrix
Mr Lennon Hendrix's picture

Have you ever seen an elephant fly?

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 16:41 | 558380 optimator
optimator's picture

I did the math.  Those trees will be chopped down way before that -- they'll all be turned into paper - money.  Printed on one side only, to save ink.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 17:34 | 558414 hedgeless_horseman
hedgeless_horseman's picture

Malthusian theory was debunked as well. 

As an historical example:

The Parliamentarian reconquest of Ireland was brutal, and Cromwell is still a hated figure in Ireland...Estimates of the drop in the Irish population resulting from the parliamentarian campaign vary from 15-25%, to half, and even as much as five-sixths.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:44 | 558260 What_Me_Worry
What_Me_Worry's picture

They can predict debt levels through 2050 but they can't tell that Greece will default anyways?

Maybe we should start an IMF fund for sending them history books on hyperinflation.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:45 | 558265 Mr Lennon Hendrix
Mr Lennon Hendrix's picture

Ok but our fund is taxing them.  An "education" tax if you will.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 21:56 | 558769 New_Meat
New_Meat's picture

Alfred E.-

"They can predict debt levels through 2050 but they can't tell that..."

We're about to be hit by a hurricane's outer bands, or maybe not.  And that is in 24 hours.

Even the Old Farmer's Almanac has equal predicitve power as the US Weather Service 72 hour forecast.

Don'tcha know.

- Ned

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:44 | 558262 Shameful
Shameful's picture

"The G7 will not default...tomorrow!  Ok yes they will default on their debts and obligations, but not tomorrow.  Now get out there and buy up song long term debt!"

Also who in their right minds thinks that any of the G7 could handle 400%+ debt to GDP?

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 17:45 | 558464 Steaming_Wookie_Doo
Steaming_Wookie_Doo's picture

Right--the existing system is sent to dust looong before 2020.

Dear IMF: "Pppfftfhtfhtfhtfhtfhtfh!!!!!!"

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:45 | 558263 Turd Ferguson
Turd Ferguson's picture

Nice chart but it is not nearly parabolic enough.

If it were parabolically accurate (ooh, I just made that up), the timeline would shorten considerably.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:52 | 558292 tmosley
tmosley's picture

Yeah, they have this sudden inflection point, as if today is the day that it's going to stop getting so bad so fast.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:45 | 558264 FASB 666
FASB 666's picture

It's just Bugs Bunny money at this point.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:55 | 558284 docj
docj's picture

A ZILLION SIMOLEONS!!

The chart is actually quite unintentionally funny.  I mean, if you just take the current (known) slope of debt to GDP you get to 400% long before 2050.  Heck, you get there (eyeballing, here) sometime around 2020 by the looks of it.

We won't, of course, get there.  Not in 2020, not in 2050.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:57 | 558309 Mr Lennon Hendrix
Mr Lennon Hendrix's picture

This chart is premium.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:49 | 558267 hedgeless_horseman
hedgeless_horseman's picture

moved

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:46 | 558268 Mongo
Mongo's picture

I will not miss this time on earth...

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:46 | 558269 CashCowEquity
CashCowEquity's picture

wont be around in 2050...they wont

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:53 | 558279 plocequ1
plocequ1's picture

Does this mean I should buy Google and hold it till 2050? I'm confused. What if I fucking croak?

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:50 | 558283 Nihilarian
Nihilarian's picture

In 2030 I'll release my hit single, "I wanna be a Trillionaire, so freakin' bad."

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:51 | 558290 midtowng
midtowng's picture

No problem. We'll print more.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:56 | 558307 MarketFox
MarketFox's picture

The battle of the FIATS is on....

What you will see happen for the most part is a coordinated effort to not single out a blackball currency.....but for "all" to be unattractive within the same time intervals...thus no huge bias for any meaningful length of time...

"Stuck in the mud"....fun for everyone....

"Wink wink" international government policies....

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:59 | 558315 Grand Supercycle
Grand Supercycle's picture

Updated S&P500 charts:

http://stockmarket618.wordpress.com

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:59 | 558317 william the bastard
william the bastard's picture

Someone, please, tell these guys the housing bubble has burst

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 16:01 | 558321 chrisd
chrisd's picture

Who cares about 2030? These analyses are more impotent than those done by current Wall Street analysts.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 16:03 | 558323 tony bonn
tony bonn's picture

why wait? if 100% is good now, why not make it 200% next year?

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 16:03 | 558324 Dollar Bill Hiccup
Dollar Bill Hiccup's picture

Take a short time period, say 3/4 of the time it takes to get an erection, and measure the percentage growth change in size then extrapolate that rate of change out to 2050 ... I suppose this analogy is consistent with both the error of extrapolating trends far into the future, as well as the theme of consistently growing debt, since by 2050 you could probably f%$! the whole planet with that thing ....

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 22:15 | 558327 web bot
web bot's picture

For #uck sakes...

Why in the name of #uck, would any idiot continue to expound on the bankrupt Keynesian gruel of further deficit spending???? This is just beyond me. Are there any sane people left in government?

When I see tools like Krugman on cnbc saying that we need further deficit spending, I have to ask myself - did this Nobel laureate attend a special school that didn't require math, or did he flunk first year economics? Even a dummy can see that this balloon is going to bust... and when it does... we are looking at robots moving not millions, not billions, but trillions of dollars over the course of minutes... and if you doubt me, think how much money was moved in the flash crash over the course of minutes.

You know, we need to give the Europeans some credit... this report is from the IMF and just confirms what we here in Oz have been saying for some time.

Eventually, you'll see the use of logarithmic scales on charts to capture the descent into financial mayhem and darkness that is coming.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 16:07 | 558329 Pillage
Pillage's picture

OT: futures ramping up afterhours again

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 18:49 | 558539 Threeggg
Threeggg's picture

This is a precursor for the Black Swan event so they can say

"See it was getting better"

I would imagine they are uncrating it now !

Maybe Earl is pre-packaged ?

I personally think it will be a "shaker" in "Cali" (HARP)

                 (The Black Swan)

 

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 16:07 | 558331 Jo
Jo's picture

Change the title in Figure 11 to read: Generalgouvernement

Much more appropriate.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 16:10 | 558333 cougar_w
cougar_w's picture

That was about the stupidest chart I've ever seen.

Child-with-a-crayon level.

Where did they work in the impact of Greenland melting and raising sea levels 7 meters? How about some religious cult nuking a European city? Or the US dollar losing reserve currency status? Or the entire US Pacific North-west seceding from the union?

Anyone projecting past even 2015 anything more complicated than compound interest on a simple savings plan is an absolute lunatic. I'm serious. This is lunacy of a very high order.

 

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 17:05 | 558420 Agent P
Agent P's picture

At the moment, running any sort of compound interest calculation on a savings plan seems like lunacy.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 19:38 | 558591 Dr. Sandi
Dr. Sandi's picture

Or the entire US Pacific North-west seceding from the union?

Don't tell anybody, but we already did. I don't think it was in the papers though.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 21:57 | 558773 New_Meat
New_Meat's picture

McNews

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 16:12 | 558337 Bartanist
Bartanist's picture

Well, since everything is going to be just dandy, I wasted a couple of hours reviewing the old King News MacGuire and GATA interviews.

100X leverage on physical gold is nothing. We can easily hit a gazillionX leverage without breathing hard.

Funny money is funny money and will climb to infinity unless damn people get in the way and stop it. That's it. The world would be perfect if it was not for the damn people.

Note to self ...

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 18:20 | 558508 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

The world would be perfect if it was not for the damn people.

That's what that crazy guy at the Discovery Channel building said.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 16:21 | 558351 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

Anybody want to take over my maxed out Visa?

It's down 25K!

You can have it for 50K and a pony!

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 18:59 | 558554 Threeggg
Threeggg's picture

OK

Well, it is the "Currency of Progress" now

VISA

http://www.currencyofprogress.com/

This World is getting Scary

LOL

Unf%cking real !

 

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 16:22 | 558352 RobotTrader
RobotTrader's picture

Absolutely huge day for banks:

Gold stocks will probably be liquidated:

And yet another "Dash for Trash" cocaine binge will follow:

 

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 16:23 | 558353 JLee2027
JLee2027's picture

These "analysis" reports get stupider and stupider. Will the IMF still exist in 2020?  Not if they continue to be a covert funding organization that forces un-asked for debt on the American taxpayer.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 18:34 | 558529 Spitzer
Spitzer's picture

not if they keep selling there gold.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 19:41 | 558593 Dr. Sandi
Dr. Sandi's picture

not if they keep selling there gold.

Yeah, but you have to remember one thing. It was never their gold in the first place. The profit is a lot beefier that way though.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 16:32 | 558364 Citxmech
Citxmech's picture

Personally, I was wondering why they stopped at 2050?  Why not go all the way to 3000?  Oh hell, why not do a logarithmic chart to 25,000AD...

 

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 16:59 | 558407 starfish
starfish's picture

I see this as an opportunity for a global lender of last resort to consolidate power.  Of course governments will overspend, that's human nature and especially the norm when it is other people's money.  So, it's all going according to plan?  Who will own the underlying assets of the sovereigns if they default?  This is the same game just on a larger scale, right?

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 17:19 | 558437 centerline
centerline's picture

I suppose that when blowing something up (like Fiat), one would want to use lots and lots of explosives to make sure the job is done right the first time.  Unlimited funding would seem to qualify as "enough" I would think.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 17:37 | 558455 Goldenballs
Goldenballs's picture

Whistle while you hyperinflate.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 18:13 | 558495 Hephasteus
Hephasteus's picture

You should see my chart of IMF vs Pretending to do math. It shows that IMF instances of pretending to do math will rise over 9000 percent over the next 2 years.

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 18:24 | 558515 TraderTimm
TraderTimm's picture

Shorted (via OEX Puts) back on July 27th, took some heat but it turned out okay. Still waiting for another opportunity to do so, but my stuff says it will pop up before I can ride the roller coaster down again.

I'm biased towards shorting because my longer-term market model says pain until the end of october. Even though the last swing down wasn't the 'big one', I'm just getting in when it just might crack apart again.

We'll see...

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 18:44 | 558544 CashCowEquity
CashCowEquity's picture

Flash Forward 2050

Gold is 100k oz

SIlver is 1500 per oz

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 18:47 | 558546 nedwardkelly
nedwardkelly's picture

Right... We're only all screwed if they can't keep this going. Who's to say musical chairs can't go on for another 50 or so years?

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 19:46 | 558598 Dr. Sandi
Dr. Sandi's picture

Right... We're only all screwed if they can't keep this going. Who's to say musical chairs can't go on for another 50 or so years?

Since wealth is only created by human labor, you can only keep an economy going on with most people working at some kind of productive job. And since more and more of us don't have a job, productive or otherwise, the end is clearly indicated.

Shuffling green papers around the globe only feeds the bulldog until the cupboard is empty. Look around and notice the shelves are slowly becoming bare as fewer and fewer of us are able to refill them.

Civilization isn't a shared hallucination, despite what most people would like us to believe. When things bottom out, whoever is left will be working their butts off trying to rebuild the dream.

 

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 19:26 | 558572 jm
jm's picture

It's not that bad, people.  Joke.

Seriously, this cocaine binge of debt is unsustainable.  And so it will change.

 

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 19:28 | 558577 dan22
Wed, 09/01/2010 - 22:39 | 558853 New_Meat
New_Meat's picture

Please don't tell me that the IMF is striking to take the jobs of the CBO "static scoring" crowd.  Wow, U-6 must be evident at the highest levels.

- Ned

Thu, 09/02/2010 - 02:53 | 559128 dollydog
dollydog's picture

ok. me no economist supremo, but even i could tell it was half baked when i was reading it on me train ride home...

Thu, 09/02/2010 - 05:19 | 559167 Amsterdammer
Amsterdammer's picture

Curious to see the I.F.M sherpa-ing up the mountain

of debt, while on the other side of the cliff 'Doctor'

Trichet hammers that the ratio has to go down

from 90 to 60 %, asap

Wed, 09/29/2010 - 06:30 | 612083 Herry12
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