It costs #Japan 24% of its revenues to pay the interest on its #debt, if rates rise to just 2.2% it will take 80%

 

It costs the Japanese government 24% of its revenues just to pay the interest on its debt at current rates. According to my friend Grant Williams (author of Things That Make You Go Hmmm...), if rates rise to just 2.2%, then it will take 80% of revenues to pay the interest. Even at the low current rates, the explosion in Japanese debt has meant that interest rate expense has risen from Y7 trillion to over Y10 trillion. Note in the chart below (also from Kyle) that the Japanese government is now issuing more in bonds than it pays in interest. Somewhere, Charles Ponzi is smiling.

Just for fun, here is a picture of Mr. Ponzi writing a check (courtesy of Geert Noels).

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