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> Nobody's ditching the dollar. However Saudi Arabia and China significantly reduced their investment in US bonds lately. Also notice that the interests on US d

> Nobody's ditching the dollar. However Saudi Arabia and China significantly reduced their investment in US bonds lately. Also notice that the interests on US debt come dangerously close to the whole of US government revenue. Revenue for 2023 was $4.4T[0], debt servicing cost was $624B. This year it's projected to be in the ~800s. [0]: https://www.statista.com/statistics/216928/us-government-revenues-by-category/#:~:text=In%202023%2C%20the%20total%20revenues,payroll%20taxes%20and%20other%20taxes https://www.statista.com/statistics/216928/us-government-rev....

ReptileMan 2y ago
I'll bite - how much of this 4.4T revenue is non discretionary spending and how much is the discretionary? Because I think that roughly 25% of USG income was discretionary. Which is quite close to the 800 figure.
drivebyhooting 2y ago
Does the debt servicing include repaying the principal of maturing treasuries or just the interest? I haven’t been able to figure out if the principal is not counted in these numbers because it is getting refinanced by rolling over to new treasuries. If so, it’s like continuously rolling over an Interest Only loan and taking more and more out over time to refinance the ballooning principal.
- iamthirsty 2y ago
  It's both, although an extremely low percentage of people, IIRC, actually "cash out", most just roll the funds into a new bond once the previous one matures.
  - drivebyhooting 2y ago
    So you mean 800B includes the principal repayment?
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - csomar 2y ago
      As far as I know, only the interest is considered as an expense. The principal is not accounted but I might be corrected.
    - iamthirsty 2y ago
      It does, but like I said most people just automatically buy new bonds, instead of actually removing the money from the Government.
Projectiboga 2y ago
Discretionary government revenue, is a subset of that total gross revenue.

ReptileMan 2y ago

I'll bite - how much of this 4.4T revenue is non discretionary spending and how much is the discretionary? Because I think that roughly 25% of USG income was discretionary. Which is quite close to the 800 figure.

drivebyhooting 2y ago

Does the debt servicing include repaying the principal of maturing treasuries or just the interest? I haven’t been able to figure out if the principal is not counted in these numbers because it is getting refinanced by rolling over to new treasuries. If so, it’s like continuously rolling over an Interest Only loan and taking more and more out over time to refinance the ballooning principal.

iamthirsty 2y ago
It's both, although an extremely low percentage of people, IIRC, actually "cash out", most just roll the funds into a new bond once the previous one matures.
- drivebyhooting 2y ago
  So you mean 800B includes the principal repayment?
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - csomar 2y ago
    As far as I know, only the interest is considered as an expense. The principal is not accounted but I might be corrected.
  - iamthirsty 2y ago
    It does, but like I said most people just automatically buy new bonds, instead of actually removing the money from the Government.

Projectiboga 2y ago

Discretionary government revenue, is a subset of that total gross revenue.