Heavy debt burdens (already in 1975)

Excerpted from Capitalism and irony

The textbook I used when I took Econ 101 (McConnell Economics, 1975) says

Although the size and growth of public debt are looked upon with awe and alarm, private debt has grown much faster. Private and public debt were of about equal size in 1947. But private debt has grown much faster and is now over three times as large -- about $1,350 billion, compared with $470 billion -- as the public debt.

And that's from the 1975 edition. McConnell adds:

If you insist upon worrying about debt, you will do well to concern yourself with private rather than public indebtedness.

//

McConnell's debt numbers may seem laughable now. Nobody was laughing in 1975.

Finance is bigger than you think.