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$6 trillion of AAA paper issued in 2009 (60% of total fixed-income) of which over 50% in government debt (via FT Alphaville ยป The AAA bubble)
After reading Citigroup Global Market Report “Sovereign Debt Problems in Advanced Industrial countries” and the BIS working paper “The future of public debt: prospects and implications (pdf)”, I feel a little better about Italy, mostly because we have a primary (i.e. before interests) budget surplus, we didn’t overspend in stimulus programs and age-related government spending has been in part already reformed (see image below).
Finally, if worse comes to worse, a primary budget surplus also means that Italy does not need to tap capital markets after a unilateral default on the debt mountain.
Interesting projections of OECD government debt by Bank of International Settlements via Bank Of International Settlements Sees US Debt/GDP At Over 400% By 2040
