In our daily lives, we are exposed to many of the same concerns as countries face. What is good for the individual, does not often translate into what is good for the country. All around the world, most people have felt higher prices or your money does not go as far as it seem to the past. As an individual you have to make choices or gain income. As a country, you have to pay the debts but the people in general may or may not like it.

In an article by Libby George, Karin Strohecker and Aaron Ross of Reuters, two countries where people are not liking it are Kenya and Bolivia. Both countries have faced opposition from the public to higher taxes to pay down deficits. Bolivia’s credit rating is junk and Kenya owes over $80 billion and both governments want to increase taxes.

The public has seen inflation eat up the value of their spending power, they also see less spending on public infrastructure are the country seems to be falling apart. If they pay more taxes what will be fixed? The public is not happy and are protesting.

In Kenya, the country borrowed heavily in the mid 2000’s when interest was law and China was splashing cash to lend to emerging markets worldwide via its Belt and Road Initiative. Kenya borrowed money and roads, railways and factories were built. But not all the projects were finished resulting in many Kenyans feeling they had not benefited and not surprisingly there was some corruption along the way.

Debt can be wonderful, but it has to be paid back whether you are an individual or a country.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, hopefully when these companies take on debt they are buying a company to increase their profits and sell off assets or doing mergers. Debt can be a four letter word, so it is always wise to monitor your investments debt levels or changes will be made frrom investors on the outside.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.