Is it more useful to talk about "Total US debt" than "US government debt"? When I first read your comment, I thought you were making the point that the article was misleading because it was using a fraction of GDP as a measure, when it in fact the main feature graph is measured in trillions of dollars.
To a lay reader like myself, it would easily lead to confusion if people talk about different numbers without making the distinction clear. Is there a well known relationship between government debt and private debt? Or is talking up Total US Debt just a distraction from the article, which talks about Government Debt?
I wasn't recommending holding the trade deficit constant, I was isolating the relationship between public and private savings. And if I ever say "all other things being equal," I'm not actually recommending that all other things be made equal.
To a lay reader like myself, it would easily lead to confusion if people talk about different numbers without making the distinction clear. Is there a well known relationship between government debt and private debt? Or is talking up Total US Debt just a distraction from the article, which talks about Government Debt?