Debt held by governments across the world has increased in the past few years. Some countries in the developed world have seen their total outstanding debt soar due to the recent global financial crisis and the ensuing recession.

Change in debt per capita and debt per capita for select developed countries:

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Source: An IOU for Every Man, Woman, and Child, Bloomberg BusinessWeek

The total public debt outstanding for the U.S. is about $16.0 Trillion. Out of this the debt held by the public is about $11.2 Trillion with the rest being intragovernmental holdings. Foreigners own about $5.3 Trillion of U.S. debt as of July, 2012.

Unlike the U.S. and major European countries, most of the debt of Japanese government is owned by citizens of Japan. Japanese have one of the highest personal savings rate in the world and hence the high per capita debt is not a major issue.

From an NBC News article:

Japan’s debt-to-GDP ratio of 233.1 percent is the highest among the world’s developed nations by a large margin. Despite the country’s massive debt, it has managed to avoid the type of economic distress affecting nations such as Greece and Portugal. This is largely due to Japan’s healthy unemployment rate and population of domestic bondholders, who consistently fund Japanese government borrowing. Japanese vice minister Fumihiko Igarashi said in a speech in November 2011 that “95 percent of Japanese government bonds have been financed domestically so far, with only 5 percent held by foreigners.” Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has proposed the doubling of Japan’s 5 percent national sales tax by 2015 to help bring down the nation’s debt.

The manufacturing is still a major contributor to the economies of developed countries despite politicians  and others lamenting the loss of manufacturing jobs according to an article in the OECD Observer. Manufacturing in the OECD member nations accounted for some 60% of the global manufacturing value-added in 2010.

Global share of manufacturing value-added in 2010:

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Some of the key points from the article include:

• Manufacturing jobs declined in most but not all OECD countries  in recent years.
• Even in Germany it fell 5% from 2000 to 2008 but this is very low compared to UK and US where they fell over 25% and 20% respectively.
• Manufacturing employment jumped by 30 million China in in the same period.
• Its hard to see major job growth occur in manufacturing in OECD countries.

Source:  How manufacturing can create value and jobs, OECD Observer

From A Reality Check on American Manufacturing in Bloomberg BusinessWeek:

Manufacturing matters, especially this year, when industrial Midwestern states are where a big part of the electoral battle is being fought. But globalization, productivity gains, and advances in automation make it unlikely the sector will ever return to its place of prominence in the U.S. economy. Rather than promising to restore manufacturing to unachievable heights, Obama and Romney should focus on policies that can keep the U.S. competitive without wasting resources, awarding special treatment, and undermining sound regulation. (emphasis added)

So despite politicians’ talk of a manufacturing revival in the U.S. it is unlikely to happen anytime soon. The cost savings companies can achieve by locating their production facilities in low-cost labor countries is too high to ignore especially when they are under pressure to generate higher earnings with declining or stagnant sales. The article further noted:

The sector’s overall slide has been under way for decades. Over the past 12 years, U.S. manufacturers have cut 31 percent of their workforce, or nearly 6 million workers. Their contribution to gross domestic product fell to 12.2 percent in 2011 from 22.7 percent in 1970.