Author Topic: Who Owns The US Debt?  (Read 2522 times)

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Offline sandman

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Who Owns The US Debt?
« on: February 03, 2012, 09:41:09 am »
This is fun, guess who is the largest owner of US debt....?

Give up?


It's the USA!

Yeah, it's weird. The entity the US borrows most from is itself.

The full top ten list of US debt holders:

1. Federal Reserve and Intragovernmental Holdings ($6.328 trillion)

2. China ($1.132 trillion)

3.  Private investors (Individuals, government sponsored enterprises, banks, & savings bonds) ($1.107 trillion)

4. Japan ($1.038 trillion)

5. Pension Funds ($653.5 billion)

6. Mutual Funds ($653.5 billion)

7. State and Local Governments ($484.4 billion)

8. The UK ($429.4 billion)

9. Depository Institutions ($284.5 billion)

10. Insurance Companies ($250.1 billion)


Pretty clear why the US government will never take serious steps to really reform the insurance industry in the United States, isn't it?
« Last Edit: February 03, 2012, 10:20:42 am by sandman »
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Offline kefkaownsall

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Re: Who Owns The US Debt?
« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2012, 09:56:04 am »
This is fun, guess who is the largest owner of US debt....?

Give up?


It's the USA!

Yeah, it's weird. The entity the US borrows most from is itself.

The full top ten list of US debt holders:

1. Federal Reserve and Intragovernmental Holdings ($6.328 trillion)

2. China ($1.132 trillion)

3.  Private investors (Individuals, government sponsored enterprises, banks, & savings bonds) ($1.107 trillion)

4. Japan (41.038 trillion)

5. Pension Funds ($653.5 billion)

6. Mutual Funds ($653.5 billion)

7. State and Local Governments ($484.4 billion)

8. The UK ($429.4 billion)

9. Depository Institutions ($284.5 billion)

10. Insurance Companies ($250.1 billion)


Pretty clear why the US government will never take serious steps to really reform the insurance industry in the United States, isn't it?
Uh you misplaced a decimal point with Japan
4. Japan (41.038 trillion) but I see your point
« Last Edit: February 03, 2012, 10:03:21 am by kefkaownsall »

Offline Oriet

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Re: Who Owns The US Debt?
« Reply #2 on: February 03, 2012, 11:31:27 am »
It's also why trying to "balance the budget" during hard economic times is a really fucking stupid idea. Any actual balance is between the government and the private sector, and the government can make more money when need be to make sure it doesn't get too bad for the private sector.
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Offline armandtanzarian

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Re: Who Owns The US Debt?
« Reply #3 on: February 03, 2012, 11:46:57 am »
Pretty clear why the US government will never take serious steps to really reform the insurance industry in the United States, isn't it?
Bit of a red herring there sandman. The reason financial institutions (and I include insurance companies in this definition) often hold copious amounts of US government debt is because US debt is considered the safest investment in the US. In fact the investor term "risk-free rate" is often taken to be the interest rate offered by a US treasury bond at a certain maturity date. It is also easily tradable while still interest bearing, important when an institution needs high amounts of liquidity but something to stem the effects of inflation. Just because you own debt in the US doesn't mean you own equity in it. Similarly most nations hold US dollars because of what it will do to their own native currency, not what influence they can peddle out of the USA. This is exemplified by China, where they use US Government Bonds to manipulate their own currency.

Debt is used to print money in America. Every dollar you have is backed by an equivalent Treasury note or bond. It will never get paid off, so long as the US dollar exists. The problem with debt is thus not that it exists, but that it becomes unmanageable. It does so when it takes on too much debt, and/or their debt rating is downgraded, requiring a higher interest rate to appease investors. Usually one thing leads to the other, ala Greece. The actual size of the debt means nothing if you don't measure it against the country's ability to maintain it, for instance the GDP.

Offline sandman

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Re: Who Owns The US Debt?
« Reply #4 on: February 03, 2012, 12:12:23 pm »
Heh heh, yeah I know. You caught me. The REAL reason they won't reform it is because the Insurance industry spends billions every year on lobbyists.
"In case you're interested, there's still some positions available for that bonus opportunity I mentioned earlier. Again: all you gotta do is let
us disassemble you. We're not banging rocks together here. We know how to put a man back together. So that's a complete reassembly. New vitals. Spit-shine on the old ones. Plus we're scooping out tumors. Frankly, you oughtta be paying us." -Cave Johnson

Offline Mechtaur

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Re: Who Owns The US Debt?
« Reply #5 on: February 03, 2012, 01:51:00 pm »
Heh heh, yeah I know. You caught me. The REAL reason they won't reform it is because the Insurance industry spends billions every year on lobbyists.

Aw, yes, the time old tactic of spending extreme amounts of money to avoid having to lose that same amount or even possibly less through taxes.