The Whole Sorry Mess In One Picture

...or graph, actually. Found this on wisebread, which is a pretty cool site. But this graph isn't all that cool.

I'm currently reading Margaret Atwood's Payback, which examines the entire concept of debt. It's a fascinating read. Debt has been with us as long as we've been human. Perhaps before; other primates seem to have an acutely developed sense of fairness. 

Debt, which can be defined as "unbalance", is ingrained in our very nature. It's not merely financial: there are moral debts, ecological debts, time-debts, and interpersonal debts.  Of course, the primary concern nowadays is monetary, but the credit (debt) crisis is only a symptom of a much more pervasive debt which is also coming due. At some point soon we will be in an oil debt. We're approaching an arable land-debt. Over two billion people on this planet have no access to clean drinking water: debt writ large, in neon lights we choose to ignore as we chase the next bauble and further indenture ourselves. 

And payback? It's a bitch.