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With America’s staggering $14 trillion dollar debt, the question arises: Who does it owe it to? Thanks to Voice of America, here is part of the answer – the top ten holders of US treasury securities:
$trn
China 1.16
Japan . 912
UK .347
Oil exporting nations (15 of them) . 230
Brazil . 211
Taiwan .153
Caribbean Banking Centres (6 of them) .148
Russia . 122
Hong Kong .115
Switzerland .108
oh look – somebody gets it !!!
maybe they read this blog!? 🙂
http://www.eudebtwriteoff.com/
So that’s only 25% of their debt. Is the remaining 75% owed internally to Warren Buffet?
It would be interesting to see how all the countries are interlinked with debt? The situation strikes me as stalemate game – rather like patent cross-licencing?
Debt cross-balancing on a global scale keeps the status-quo alive and well, and well timed punch-and-judy news-releases from one country’s minister to another keeps the mob happy that “somthing is being done” – it is not!
And like patent game the first to cry “foul” will begin a domino effect of currency war & trade wars.
The astute reader might have noticed that the number do not total to $14th — that’s because you missed out #1 and #2
42% of U.S. National debt is held by other Federal agencies (e.g. the Social Security Trust Fund). This is considered ‘intra-governmental’ – money the govt owes itself. It also means that net of intra-governmental debt is $8.3 trillion (not $14.3).
Another 27% is owed to US citizens $3.5bn
So about a third of the total is owed to people outside USA
Greg, don’t you just love those remote areas where Health and Safety are yet to discover!
David, I too love the people in the less populated parts of America, however I’d be quite happy to cut the northeast off and let it drift into the never never. I find its a place of heavy contradictions, the freedom of spirit is there – just not usually during working hours. Similarly I find my anal retention feels better if I just don’t turn on Rupert’s news channel. But as I love parts of the US West, I similarly love some of the more offbeat places in the south of France or some other part of western Europe unaffected by the do-gooders or the financial screwtapes of the world.
Same here, Tony, I’d rather go to America than any other foreign country. I’ve just booked a B&B in Georgia and said I might be a bit late and the guy said ‘Give us a ring when you’re near and we’ll leave the door open for you.’ Now that’s a lovely warm welcome.
Yes, I quite agree. I have a lot of time for the country and its people, having worked with them and over there quite a bit and having close family relocated to there. We’re all just people, whatever the xenophobes write or tell us 🙂
However, the young Bush administration and others seemed to churn out the word ‘freedom’ at every opportunity and on their lips I found it more patronising than patronage or even just true. They waved it gleefully around the air like a tomahawk so often that it insinuated the whole place was pure as the driven snow.
Dignified statesmanship would have been the order of the day but ol’ George was having none of that. He’d rather drive round in circles in a golf cart in front of journalists with the British PM 🙂
A young Chinese journalist told me what she most admires about Americans is their freedom of spirit, Tony. and that rings very true with me.
Yes Tony, sorry. China is the only 1trillion+ creditor the others are in billions so I’ve put a decima point in front of the others.
Yep, though some of it is more like vandalism… 🙂
Including the ‘frredom’ to mangle the English language at every opportunity 🙂
No, that’s freedom of thought. That’s free but it doesn’t provide all of a modern, Western life, no matter how poetically reassuring your statement is, I’m afraid.
Americans do have freedom of movement. But freedom of time and action is severely limited if your society is geared up to give most people relatively very few free hours per year because they have to work very hard and long to pay for a life for them and their family.
In any practical sense, considering typical aspirations of the Western individual, being stung by your society makes for a harder life.
Freedom is a state of mind. Not money.
Hi David – is the China one supposed to be $1160bn ($1.16tn), rather than $1.16bn? 🙂
Well Mr C, my observation is that the average Brit is better off than the average American because of the various social safety nets we have which they don’t. Half of the Ameircans are on some sort of welfare, the American working man hasn’t had a pay raise for a decade, 24% of the US national income goes to 1% of Americans and Warren Buffett says most of his employees pay tax at a higher rate than he does. So the American financial system – banks, private equity people Republicans etc – have managed to reproduce the Feudal System in America and Americans still persist in the illusion that they enjoy ‘freedom’.
Pretty dam broke I would say?
Looks like the Country needs a lifestyle change and join the living standards of the UK?