What does it mean if the "debt bubble" bursts?

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  • BananaRepublic
    BananaRepublic Posts: 2,103
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    edited 28 June 2017 at 6:43AM
    To add to DiggerUK's reply, in 2007 the markets had been overvalued for ages, and people were borrowing at low interest rates. Some people were getting mortgages without a deposit. The markets were exuberant following a long bull market. Many people thought the markets were due for a correction, few saw the cause.

    Banks and other institutions had been selling bad debt, by which I mean debts that were unlikely to be repaid, wrapping them up in complex financial instruments, and selling them on. This bad debt was spread throughout the Western economies, and no-one knew who owned what. When the extent of the bad debt became known, confidence in financial institutions was lost, the markets fell, and companies started failing. Why lend money to a bank, or use their services, if they might collapse the following day?

    This is akin to the cartoon where the character runs over the edge of a cliff, but carries on going. Only when he looks down, and sees that there is nothing beneath his feet does he fall. Once confidence is lost, the markets fall.

    We've seen this nonsense before, recently with the tech bubble, and even further back with the South Sea Bubble.
  • Thrugelmir
    Thrugelmir Posts: 89,546
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    We've seen this nonsense before, recently with the tech bubble, and even further back with the South Sea Bubble.

    Today the FPC expressed concerns. Seems if lessons haven't been learnt.

    Added to which there's concern over debt levels in China. As banks are state controlled debt written can be absorbed. The use of the money is the more pressing matter. With some commentators suggesting that growth could to fall to a crawl of just 2% in 5 years or so's time.

    Even Saudi is looking to offload a 5% stake in Armaco to release funds. Interesting times lie ahead.
  • BananaRepublic
    BananaRepublic Posts: 2,103
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    Thrugelmir wrote: »
    Today the FPC expressed concerns. Seems if lessons haven't been learnt.

    Added to which there's concern over debt levels in China. As banks are state controlled debt written can be absorbed. The use of the money is the more pressing matter. With some commentators suggesting that growth could to fall to a crawl of just 2% in 5 years or so's time.

    Even Saudi is looking to offload a 5% stake in Armaco to release funds. Interesting times lie ahead.

    Boom and bust - which Gordon Brown ended :rotfl: - is a feature of human psychology. We are due for another crash given the current bull market duration since the last crash, but whether it occurs this autumn as some predict, or a few years on is anyone's guess.
  • here can an expat put their money. ?
  • here can an expat put their money. ?

    Presume you meant 'Where'. Answer: gold
  • AG47
    AG47 Posts: 1,618 Forumite
    99% of debt never gets paid back, it's the mugs who pay off their mortgages and debts, the truth is 99% of debt in the world will be defaulted on
    Nothing has been fixed since 2008, it was just pushed into the future
  • Reaper
    Reaper Posts: 7,277
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    AG47 wrote: »
    99% of debt never gets paid back, it's the mugs who pay off their mortgages and debts, the truth is 99% of debt in the world will be defaulted on
    I hope all the forum members who invest in peer-to-peer lending are aware of this .
    Also 99% of statistics are made up.
  • Karmo
    Karmo Posts: 16 Forumite
    All this is just another ruse to ripp off ordinary people who dont know about financial wheelings and dealings . You can be sure when the s### hits the fan that the bankers , politicians and money people will be fine and continue to line their pockets . It will be as usual the ordinary man that suffers .
  • eskbanker
    eskbanker Posts: 30,225
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    Great - a detailed informative and factual post is written by a grown-up and made into a sticky on that basis, and then the thread promptly gets polluted by infantile sub-Daily Mail drivelling.... :(
  • BananaRepublic
    BananaRepublic Posts: 2,103
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    eskbanker wrote: »
    Great - a detailed informative and factual post is written by a grown-up and made into a sticky on that basis, and then the thread promptly gets polluted by infantile sub-Daily Mail drivelling.... :(

    You mean the long winded and mind numbingly dull answer which goes off piste?
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