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I think, but don't know, that that 95% is federal only. Load in state and local governments and the US might be competitive with the UK.
by ahi 17y ago
I think, but don't know, that that 95% is federal only. Load in state and local governments and the US might be competitive with the UK.
- ovi256 17y agoPlus the Medicare and Social security financing debt, which, in a beautiful coup of financial engineering, is counted separately.
- btilly 17y agoThe biggest component to US debt is private. Let me find some figures. Googling for us "total debt" private leads me to http://mwhodges.home.att.net/nat-debt/debt-nat.htm http://mwhodges.home.att.net/nat-debt/debt-nat.htm which claims a total US debt of $57 trillion. The site is sensationalistic, but I have no reason to doubt their numbers. Almost certainly they are going off of recognized published numbers from somewhere. That figure includes "all recognized debt of federal, state & local governments, international, private households, business and domestic financial sectors, including federal debt to trust funds". It does NOT include unfunded obligations like pensions and social security. Wikipedia tells me that the US GDP is 14.2 trillion. Dividing one number into the other gives me a 401.4% debt/GDP level for the USA. And since we only have the first number to 2 significant digits, we should round that to 400%. Whether or not you agree with the conclusions in the email, the numbers quoted look accurate.