The real take here is 'it depends'. The important number is the debt-to-GDP ratio for each country, and which countries we're talking about.
The biggest debt growth has been with China that now has a debt-to-GDP ratio of 255%. Does that number spell doom for China? Not really. It's high, but China can handle it. If it continues to grow in an uncontrolled fashion, it might be a different story.
So in each case, each country is different story, and you have to look at them individually.
The numbers are thrown around with nobody really understanding what they mean. China have a collective debt to GDP ratio of 255%, which means all persons, corporations, local government, and central government have a debt that collectively sum up to 2.5 times the GDP. The Central government itself have debt amounting to 47.6% of GDP.
Meanwhile, US federal government have debt approaching 100% of American GDP, and guess what? Private people and corporations in US hold more debt, I have yet to find a comprehensive collective debt to economy ratio for the US, and I would very much appreciate that number since we can then compare apple to apple.
Also, honorary mention to Japan, whose public government debt exceeded 200% of their economy.
I would beg to differ. China introduced loan securitization back in 2005 - and so there´s a quietly ticking time bomb there, similar to 2008´s US crash, that will eventually go off.
The biggest debt growth has been with China that now has a debt-to-GDP ratio of 255%. Does that number spell doom for China? Not really. It's high, but China can handle it. If it continues to grow in an uncontrolled fashion, it might be a different story.
So in each case, each country is different story, and you have to look at them individually.