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Here's a dumb question. It says $7 trillion of the $28 trillion is owed to foreign governments. To whom is the rest owed?
by programmarchy 5y ago
Here's a dumb question. It says $7 trillion of the $28 trillion is owed to foreign governments. To whom is the rest owed?
- itisit 5y agoItself: https://www.thebalance.com/who-owns-the-u-s-national-debt-3306124 https://www.thebalance.com/who-owns-the-u-s-national-debt-33...
- seibelj 5y agoPrivate owners of US bonds, foreign or domestic. The US has an enormous privilege by having the global reserve currency. Through our military and political influence we have also forced several commodities, specifically oil, to only be priced in USD. This has driven global demand for USD in order to pay for goods not exported by the US - everyone needs oil, and oil can only be purchased with USD, so everyone needs USD. This causes countries to export to the US at cheaper exchange rates, basically guaranteeing that US manufacturing is at a permanent disadvantage for low-complexity goods that don’t play into our research strengths. This also allows us to run insanely high deficits, as we can print dollars more easily than other countries without reducing demand for further dollars. However I think the reserve status of USD is under serious threat. I don’t think US citizens care for war and are much more isolationist than politicians want. I don’t think using our military to enforce reserve status will be palatable anymore, and threats from China and experimental currencies like bitcoin will undermine the reserve currency status.
- anm89 5y agoAnyone who owns a government bond holds the government's debt. You could hold government debt tomorrow if you wanted to. This includes Both American and non American individuals and companies.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- addicted 5y agoAmericans for the most part.