Global debt hasn't been this bad since the Napoleonic Wars, says World Economic Forum president

The massive volumes of debt piling up around the globe forced the president of the World Economic Forum to reach back more than 200 years for a comparable period. In an interview Sunday with CNBC at a WEF conference in Saudi Arabia, Borge Brende warned overall debt is approaching the world’s total economic output. “We haven’t seen this kind of debt since the Napoleonic Wars,” he said. “We’re getting close to 100% of global GDP in debt.” According to the …