> But that's misleading. The federal government itself owns more than a quarter of U.S. debt, money the government essentially owes itself. It’s an accounting e

> But that's misleading. The federal government itself owns more than a quarter of U.S. debt, money the government essentially owes itself. It’s an accounting entry. As an asset and a liability, it effectively cancels out. Well, no. These bonds are held in the Social Security Trust Fund, and while yes in one sense they are both an asset and a liability, they are also funding a future liability (although not all of it). So you can cancel them out against the future liability or the current one, but not both. (As to Social Security being underfunded, I had an econ professor explain Social Security could be fully funded immediately if the Treasury could just issue a new class of bonds which cost a penny and are redeemed for a trillion dollars in ten years, and sell them to the Trust Fund.)