Since the financial system is indeed global, world wide is correct. Sure, it's only in the US, the UK and Spain that a housing bubble has burst (AFAIK, still, that's more world wide than the US alone), but financial institutions are in trouble in Germany, in Belgium and the Netherlands as well (again, AFAIK). In Iceland the collapse of the banking system is so severe the country as a whole (not just the banks!) is effectively bankrupt. And I just read on http://fistfulofeuros.net/ that Ukraine is pretty close to something similar.
Good point. Apparently the UK has a situation similar to the US where debt rates are enormous. But you're right in that most of the world is rather more frugal than the US.
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