There are far better measures than just raw debt growth.  Perhaps the best one is the ability of an economy to pay the service charges.  My memory is bad, but I remember back in the early 1990's Canada was spending 25 cents of every tax dollar just to pay interest on our debt.  Of course a large part of that was due to much higher interest rates back then, but it really doesn't matter what the interest rates are.  What matters is the level of taxation required to pay that debt, or alternatively the lower level of services provided to the population because they cannot afford any more.  Just imagine what the government could have done with all that extra money if it had been available for health or education instead of debt service.

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