Wednesday, July 27, 2011
It is one of the largest, and certainly most powerful, myths in American politics today: that America’s debt is in the hands of foreigners, primarily the Chinese.
By repeatedly telling the American people that the U.S. national debt is controlled by China and other countries, politicians give themselves a potent weapon to stir the passions of constituents and leverage the lie for policy or political ends.
If only people knew the truth, which is that nearly 70% of America’s $14.3 trillion debt is held by … America.
According to Business Insider, Americans—from bankers to investors to government officials to ordinary citizens—control $9.8 trillion of the debt, or 68%.
China has $1.16 trillion, or about 8%.
Altogether, other countries possess $4.6 trillion of the U.S. debt.
The bulk of the debt rests with a wide range of institutions and individuals, such as the Social Security Trust Fund (19%), the Federal Reserve (11.3%), households (6.6%), state and local governments (3.5%), private pension funds (3.5%) and commercial banks (2.1%).
-Noel Brinkerhoff
A Debt To Ourselves: Who Really Owns It? (by Kyle Leighton, Talking Points Memo)
The TRUTH About Who Really Owns All of America's Debt (by Vincent Trivett, Business Insider)
Government Debt, at All Levels, Reaches Post-World War II Levels (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov)
Huge Leap in Debt Dumped on Taxpayers…Before Obama (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)
Comments