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People gripe about our budgets and then I see things like this and I just shake my head.. Italy has deficits that are more than 200% of their gross national product and they're a net giver to the EU?

That is insane!

If you think that's insane, let's toss on a few more here...

Japan, one of the most vocal critics there is when it comes to our budget deficits, has a deficit of 164.3% of their GDP. By comparison our debt is 65% of our GDP. Germany is a little ahead of us, but you'd never guess by their comments about our outrageous budgets.. 65.4% of their GDP. How about France? Remember them being critical of our budgets? 67.7% of their GDP. Tony Blair might have a valid point to make since their debt is only 39.6%, but since they spend 2.4% of their GDP on military versus our 3.6% (some of which goes for their defense), it does ring a bit hollow.

Oh, and I was wrong - Italy is 105.6% of their GDP. Not 200%, but a far cry above ours. (They're number 3 in the world behind Lebanon and Malawi, though Malawi's debt will mostly be going away with the debt forgiveness deals floating about.) We're #34 on the world list...

(source CIA World Factbook 2005 edition)