Debt/Ebitda ratios of US companies is estimated to be around 3.3X compared to 2.3X in 2008, although the coverage of interest ratio (Ebitda/interests) reaches 7.4X compared to 7.3X in 2008. Therefore, although the level of debt is indeed high, the capacity to pay is also elevated, which is what really matters.
Despite the general deleveraging in the US, the corporate and non-corporate sector has begun to indebt itself again, currently to a level of 72.6% of GDP ($15 trillion). According to calculations of economists at the firm Solunion, the real level of non-financial corporate debt could exceed by 30%, or $3.9 Tr.
US corporate debt rose to 45% of GDP at the peak of the Great Financial Crisis that began in 2008 , the same level it reached at the height of the dot.com bubble in 2000/01
“I am “the king of debt”. That was very grandiose for me as a businessman, but it’s bad for the US. I made a fortune with debt, I will sort out the US”. This is the kind of tweet which would ruin anyone’s political career, with the exception of one person: Donald Trump.