In 2007 the company's debt burden rose from under $4 billion to over $16 billion.
During the second world war, for instance, Britain's gross debt burden rose above 200% of GDP; America's topped 120%.
Even in countries where the stricken banks eventually repaid most or all of their bailouts, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, the debt burden rose sharply as governments adopted stimulus programs to ameliorate the broader consequences of lending busts.
Tight fiscal policy, high real rates and an overvalued exchange rate were a disastrous combination; the UK economy barely grew and the debt burden rose until 1933.Does the UK example mean we should take no fiscal action, as some suggest?
"The government's failure to bolster economic prospects by allowing the pace of structural reform to slip and by faltering in its efforts to boost consumer confidence suggests that the economic sluggishness could continue indefinitely, with the government debt burden rising to levels inconsistent with a triple-A rating," S.& P. said.
And as their public-debt burden rises, rich-world governments will find it increasingly difficult to borrow still more to compensate.
Deflation is setting in, so debt burdens rise despite fiscal austerity.
But as their debt burdens rise, the world's big rich economies would do well to focus most on efficiency.
Otherwise, if Greece and Ireland have to return to the markets, they will have to pay punitive rates that would keep their debt burdens rising even if they are running primary (ie, excluding interest payments) budget surpluses by then.
The decline in prices needed to regain competitiveness will cause the debt burden to rise and demand to fall.
So the country's total debt burden has risen to almost 60% of GDP, from 52.5% a year ago, according to the Central Bank.
