Blank Slate

My friend Khan passed along a link to me: No, We're Not Turning Into Japan, by James Ledbetter, 18 August, Slate.

Under the heading The strength of corporations, Ledbetter writes

Stimulus skeptics tend to be evangelists of private-sector virtue, yet they spend very little time discussing just how healthy the balance sheets of American corporations are. Yes, America's financial and auto sectors fell into near-death, but nonfinancial corporations have been delivering healthy, even record profits lately, and are not carrying much more debt than they ever have.

"Nonfinancial corporations are not carrying much more debt than they ever have."

That's the sort of thing people say when they don't really know for sure. If you don't mind me quoting me quoting myself, I recently wrote:

I also said "No one has any money, but there is just as much money in circulation as ever there was." And that was dead wrong.

Sorta has the same rhythm to it, no? Kind of a poetry of ignorance. When ya don't know, but ya figure there's only one reasonable option, ya say there is just as much money in circulation as ever, or ya say they are not carrying much more debt than they ever have, or some other sweeping generalization that is easily recognizable in others, once you've recognized it in oneself.

Well, you know I had to look into it.

Nonfinancial corporate debt doubled from 25% to 50% of GDP between 1956 and 2009.

So you know.