So Greece is broke. As are Portugal, Spain, Ireland, maybe Italy, maybe Great Britain and pretty much everybody except Germany.

And don't let's look too closely at the state of the American government's finances. They won't bear it, especially not once they finish vacuuming all the oil up out of the Gulf of Mexico.

Also, a lot of individuals are in debt up to their eyeballs. Canadian household debt swelled to $1.3 trillion last year, and the upward curve of debt resembles the front of a toboggan. It looks like by 2020 it will have curled back over on itself.

So Greece, at the apex of this mountain of debt, was on the brink of default. So its friends pulled together to bail it out.

How did they do this?

By borrowing money, of course.

Between existing government debt, debt to bail out countries that are too indebted, credit card debt, mortgage debt, car loans, lines of credit, student loans, home improvement loans and so on, it seems to me that there might be a little bit more debt in the world than there is ever likely to be money to pay it all off.

Of course, the only way to pay down debt is to spend less and save more.

For countries like Greece, that means harsh austerity measures. It means slashing pay for government workers. It means laying people off. So, of course, Greece and its citizens will have less money to spend. Which means they will purchase less from their neighbours, from North America, from China and India.

Which will put a small but measurable drag on the economy of the entire world. Economies will grow more slowly. There will be fewer jobs created. People will spend less, and, if they are cautious, they might save more for a rainy day.

Add to that the drag that the world will feel when the same cycle of debt/panic/bailout/austerity hits Portugal. And Spain. And Ireland. And Great Britain. And the United States.

A typical would-be debtor goes to a bank, and they look at how much he or she makes, and calculate how much debt is affordable. Unfortunately, world governments skip the step of calculating how much they can afford, as do many credit card holders.

I worry now not about my personal debts or about our national debt. I worry about everyone else's debt. I worry that I'll pay for it, one way or another. Unemployment, higher taxes, crummy roads, health-care waits: take your pick.

So I'd like to thank everyone who's been running up this debt over the past few decades. I didn't ask you to do it, but you did it anyway. You revved up the engine of the economy, pouring jet fuel into an economy car.

Now the engine is about to burn out. Guess we'll need a loan for a new ride.

Matthew Claxton is a reporter with the Langley Advance, a sister paper of The Record.