Ah yes, human economics. Very fascinating. Very concerning.
*wheeze*
“Who does Earth owe $350 trillion to?”
Mostly itself.
You owe money to pension funds, banks, insurance companies, investment funds, foreign governments, central banks, corporations, and millions of individual investors.
*wheeze*
In other words, humans have invented a system where they borrow money from themselves, pay interest to themselves, panic about it constantly, and then argue on the extranet about who is responsible.
As a Vølüs, I find this arrangement delightfully profitable.
The more interesting question is not who you owe. The question is whether the debt grows faster than the economy that supports it.
* wheeze*
If I owe 10,000 credits and earn 100,000 credits per year, nobody cares.
If I owe 10,000 credits and earn 12 credits per year, suddenly C-Sec starts asking questions.
Hah hah hah…* wheeze*
So when a human says, “We owe $350 trillion! Who do we owe it to?”
The answer is:
“Mostly other humans. The real question is whether future humans can keep making enough money to convince everyone not to panic.”
* wheeze*
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have several sovereign debt instruments to sell to the Elcor. They take a very long-term view of investments.
"Niles, we're lost. That's the fourth time we've passed by the pile of frankly rather tasteless sheraton armchairs."
"Yes, the style clashes with the yellow wallpaper and endless billowing void. Then again, feng shui might fail to accommodate an open floor plan this... er, OPEN"
Southern prosecutor: I call into question the defendant's sexual viability. May the defendant remooove his trousers?
My yankee attorney: Objection, your honor, relevance.
Southern judge: [eyeing me up] Overruuuled. Take 'em off, boy.