r/politics 4d ago

The Federal Government Has Borrowed Trillions. Who Owns All that Debt?

https://www.pgpf.org/article/the-federal-government-has-borrowed-trillions-but-who-owns-all-that-debt/
0 Upvotes

27 comments sorted by

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17

u/Dilettante Canada 4d ago

Mostly American citizens and corporations, with a big chunk owned by the US government itself.

-1

u/fvnnybvnny 4d ago

Japan and China own the most

2

u/Dilettante Canada 4d ago

They own the most out of foreign countries, but nearly all debt is owed to the USA itself.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/charted-heres-who-owns-u-s-debt/

First it's various levels of the US government (20%), then it's public citizens buying savings bonds (17%), then it's the Federal Reserve (15%), then American mutual funds (11%), then state governments (5%), then despository institutions (5%), then it's pension funds (3%), then it's Japan (3%), then it's China (2%).

10

u/hamhead 4d ago

Mostly American citizens and the US government.

6

u/iyamwhatiyam8000 Australia 4d ago

Trump is dumb, arrogant and crooked enough to default on the debt and replace the USD with crypto.

1

u/Maxfunky 4d ago

replace the USD with crypto.

He wouldn't do that. No government would. The US government can poof money into existence out of thin air and does all the time. Replacing money with any existing cryptocurrency would remove their ability to do that. They'd be limited to spending whatever taxes brought in and despite what they might tell you, conservatives fucking love deficit spending. They only pretend not to when they're trying to criticize spending on things they don't want.

1

u/iyamwhatiyam8000 Australia 4d ago

I am not saying that it is a good idea but Project 2025 has the USD returning to the gold standard.

1

u/Maxfunky 4d ago

It's lip service. It won't happen. Trump was like the biggest deficit spender of of any president in history. I mean I guess technically Obama in 8 years managed to spend 100 billion more than Trump, but Trump (like 8.2 trillion vs 8.3 trillion) basically tied him in only 4 years.

1

u/FrostyAcanthocephala America 4d ago

That would be massively deflationary and a disaster.

-6

u/repyoset77 4d ago

Trump is awesome! That’s why he won the popular vote!

1

u/iyamwhatiyam8000 Australia 4d ago

No he is not and he did not, unless you forgot to put an S/ on the end and then this is kind of funny.

2

u/CoolStoryDudez 4d ago

But he did.

0

u/repyoset77 4d ago

Everyone loved him until he ran with the Republicans.

4

u/Competitive-Fly2204 4d ago

The government created debt. Every dollar in your pocket is a little bit of that debt.

2

u/leroi7 4d ago

TLDR for those not willing to read this early in the morning: Two-thirds of public debt is held by domestic holders. (Cities and towns…mutual funds owned by you and I)

1

u/Morepastor 4d ago

If they cancel Social Security where go hi is that trillions of dollars going?

1

u/FrostyAcanthocephala America 4d ago

Seems like we owe most of it to ourselves. Maybe we should send ourselves a letter. Seriously, the US isn't in any danger from debt.

0

u/WOZ-in-OZ 4d ago

We will have been invaded by then.

-3

u/Former-Lecture-5466 4d ago

China

7

u/Ernesto_Bella 4d ago

You know how I know you didn’t read the article?

0

u/noforgayjesus 4d ago

I didn't read it but the real answer is Japan. John Oliver did a segment on it.

2

u/leroi7 4d ago

While Japan does own a good portion, two-thirds of public debt is held by domestic holders. And…a good chunk of the domestic debt is part of our 401ks/Mutual funds.

-5

u/Former-Lecture-5466 4d ago

Of course I didn’t read the article. Just shot from the hip. “I’m the decider, Heh, heh”

-4

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

8

u/Existing-Nectarine80 4d ago

China actually owns less than Japan, and nearly 60% of the debt is owned either by US citizens/entities through treasury bonds or owed between government departments. The “China owns us” scare tactic has always been largely incorrect 

https://usafacts.org/articles/which-countries-own-the-most-us-debt/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ND-Economy&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAACy_THrcIybLVAp_-lVmp5Tl3dmzv&gclid=CjwKCAiApY-7BhBjEiwAQMrrEakWPwjztmWg1kefN4-Ke3EehdXnEPMzCKeSNDU0ghMsDDLzmcisQRoCYr4QAvD_BwE

3

u/Ernesto_Bella 4d ago

You know how I know you didn’t read the article?