POPULIST
At the end of 2010, the US owed $9.39 tln and Americans held 53% of that debt, the Congressional Budget Office recently reported. Treasury notes remain good, solid additions to any portfolio, Peter Grier noted at the Christian Science Monitor (2/4), as US individuals hold 12% of the country’s debt, followed by the Federal Reserve, with 9%, and pension and retirement funds, mutual funds and state and local governments. Foreigners hold 47% of US public debt, led by — yes, China, with 9.8%, narrowly ahead of Japan’s 9.6%. UK investors hold 5.1%, oil exporting nations as a group hold 2.6%, Brazil has 1.8% and the rest is split among lots of other countries.
“So if anybody tells you that Americans work for China now, since they hold all our T-notes and can yank our fiscal chain, tell them that’s an exaggeration,” Grier concluded. “The vast majority of US debt is owed to non-Chinese, after all.”
The Progressive Populist for more