Guess Which Country Has Debt Of Nearly 1000% Of GDP...

It's the UK, per this excellent chart from Morgan Stanley.

Image: Morgan Stanley

A few notes here:

• This chart is looking at all kinds of debt, not just sovereign debt. The UK's staggering debt-to-GDP ratio is largely due to the size of its financial sector.
• All financial sector debt is, to some extent, potentially government debt, since all governments end up having to rescue their financial sectors in the event of a crisis. That's what brought down Iceland and Ireland.
• And yet, for reasons we explained here, the UK is still seen as a gold-standard among safe-havens.
• By no measure does the US look  remarkable debt-wise -- even household debt/GDP doesn't look that bad. For that matter, Europe doesn't look that bad either. Their problem is not debt, but fiscal/monetary structure.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/g10-countries-by-total-debt-to-gdp-2011-12#ixzz1fazCg8VM