Prepayments involve paying off at par the outstanding stock of debt.

Since their collapse in 2007, US households have understandably become fixated on repairing the damage. That means paying down debt and rebuilding savings, leaving consumer demand mired in protracted weakness.

Down with Debt Weight

Trapped in the aftermath of a wrenching balance sheet recession, US families remain fixated on deleveraging paying down debt and rebuilding their income based saving balances. Progress has been slow and limited on both counts.

Consumers are diverting what little income they earn away from spending toward paying down debt and rebuilding savings. That is both logical and rational and thus not something that the US Federal Reserve can offset with unconventional monetary easing.

Hobbled by severe damage to private and public sector balance sheets, and with policy interest rates at or near zero, post bubble economies have been mired in a classic liquidity trap. They are more focused on paying down massive debt overhangs built up before the crisis than on assuming new debt and boosting aggregate demand.

In the years leading up to the crisis, two bubbles property and credit 160 fueled a record high personal consumption binge. When the bubbles burst, households understandably became fixated on balance sheet repair namely, paying down debt and rebuilding personal savings, rather than resuming excessive spending habits.

In the years leading up to the crisis, two bubbles property and credit fueled a record high personal consumption binge. When the bubbles burst, households understandably became fixated on balance sheet repair namely, paying down debt and rebuilding personal savings, rather than resuming excessive spending habits.

Many developing countries have made progress since the 1990 s in shifting from dollar denominated debt toward foreign direct investment and other types of capital inflows, or in paying down their liabilities altogether. But some commodity exporters still seek ways to borrow that won t expose them to excessive risk.

When we do not invest adequately in peacebuilding, we find ourselves paying much more for renewed peacekeeping efforts down the line.

The country s enormous environmental debt will have to be paid, one way or another. China must exercise the foresight needed to begin paying this debt now, when it is manageable, rather than allowing it to accumulate and, ultimately, threaten to bankrupt us all.

Do you demand some recompense from them that would weigh them down with debt?

Do you demand some recompense from them that would weigh them down with debt?

Paying for Productivity

By exploiting a record credit bubble to borrow against an unprecedented property bubble, American consumers spent well beyond their means for many years. When both bubbles burst, over extended US households had no choice but to cut back and rebuild their damaged balance sheets by paying down outsize debt burdens and rebuilding depleted savings.

This is people expanding debt, drawing down their savings, just to stay in the game.

Or askest thou them for a wage, and so they are weighed down with debt?

Or askest thou them for a wage, and so they are weighed down with debt?

Or askest thou them for a wage, and so they are weighed down with debt?

Or askest thou them for a wage, and so they are weighed down with debt?

Do you ask them for a reward, so that they are weighed down with debt?

Do you ask them for a reward, so that they are weighed down with debt?

Or do you ask of them a payment, so they are by debt burdened down?

Or do you ask of them a payment, so they are by debt burdened down?

(3) to set down the scheme for debt disposal or inheritance through negotiating with the creditors

Or, do you ask them for a wage, so that they become weighed down in debt?

Or, do you ask them for a wage, so that they become weighed down in debt?

Stop Paying the Polluters

Or do you, O Muhammad , ask of them a payment, so they are by debt burdened down?

Or do you, O Muhammad , ask of them a payment, so they are by debt burdened down?

Paying the Price of Reform

I just wasn't paying attention.

You're not even paying attention.

A long term alternative requires some capacity to write down debt where it has reached excessive levels. But it is also necessary to establish an iron clad guarantee of some part of the outstanding debt, in order to remove fear of a complete write down.

Do you ask them for a reward, so that they are wary of being weighed down with debt?

Do you ask them for a reward, so that they are wary of being weighed down with debt?

Some analysts argue that, given guarantees of debt incurred by public corporations, the Greek government s obligations are even higher. To escape from this morass, Greece needs a massive debt write down.

So it was paying the rent.

I was paying her school fees.

How much are you paying Tom?

African banks, meanwhile, are rock solid compared to their debt heavy counterparts in the US and Europe. While international bankers went bust by making legions of bad loans, African bankers stuck to earning profits the old fashioned way paying very little to depositors, and earning a big spread by buying guaranteed government debt, which yielded healthy returns.

And Ghana was not paying enough attention.

I objected to his paying the bill.

It must be raised again this summer if the United States government is to continue paying its bills on time. But now America s debt ceiling has become the subject of intense political posturing and touch and go negotiations behind closed doors.

Indeed, when today s Europeans peer into the future, they see only prolonged recession and austerity. Europe means nothing but sacrifice northern Europeans paying for southern Europe s woes through large transfers, or southern Europeans repaying onerous and maybe impossible levels of debt.