How much debt is the U.S. in?
The $34 trillion gross federal debt equals debt held by the public plus debt held by federal trust funds and other government accounts. In very basic terms, this can be thought of as debt that the government owes to others plus debt that it owes to itself.
The largest holder of U.S. debt is the U.S government. Which agencies own the most Treasury notes, bills, and bonds? Social Security, by a long shot. The U.S. Treasury publishes this information in its monthly Treasury statement.
At the top is Japan, whose national debt has remained above 100% of its GDP for two decades, reaching 255% in 2023.
Japan owns the most at $1.1 trillion, followed by China, with $859 billion, and the United Kingdom at $668 billion. In isolation, this $7.4 trillion amount is a lot, said Scott Morris, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development.
As of Oct. 2022, China owns $769.6 billion of the total $7,565 billion U.S. national debt.
The obvious reason is Japan willfully EXPORTS manufactured goods to the United States, and earns United States Dollars, which it wants to own. Those US Dollars are ultimately paid into Japan's checking account at the Federal Reserve. Japan can then pay Japanese companies in domestic Yen, not in foreign currency.
Singapore is one of Asia's major financial centers. It is also one of the most prosperous countries on the planet. And all this has been achieved without taking on any meaningful public debt. In fact, very much like Norway, Singapore has more assets than debt.
Most include a combination of deep spending cuts and tax increases to bend the debt curve. Cutting spending. Most comprehensive proposals to rein in the debt include major cuts to spending on entitlement programs and defense.
The federal government needs to borrow money to pay its bills when its ongoing spending activities and investments cannot be funded by federal revenues alone. Decreases in federal revenue are largely due to either a decrease in tax rates or individuals or corporations making less money.
Who owns Chinese debt?
China has little overseas debt, and a high national savings rate. In addition, most of the debt is state owned – state-controlled banks loaned funds to state-controlled firms – giving the government the ability to manage the situation.
If China “dumped” USA treasuries, they would take a serious monetary loss. The price of the treasuries would drop, effective raising the return for those who bought the bonds.
China is one of the United States's largest creditors, owning about $859.4 billion in U.S. debt. 1 However, it does not own the most U.S. debt of any foreign country. Nations borrowing from each other may be as old as the concept of money.
Russia National Government Debt reached 285.4 USD bn in Dec 2023, compared with 286.3 USD bn in the previous month.
From a national perspective, China buys U.S. debt due to its complex financial system. The central bank must purchase U.S. Treasuries and other foreign assets to keep cash inflows from causing inflation.
Country | Economy |
---|---|
United States | $25.347 trillion |
China | $19.91 trillion |
Japan | $5.396 trillion |
Germany | $4.55 trillion |
But how did Japan find itself in this situation? Japan's descent into its debt trap began in the 1990s with the burst of a real estate bubble. This problem was further compounded by high demand for stimulus packages and an ageing population, which has caused Japan's debt to continually pile up until at least 2021.
The combination of its advantageous geographic position and rumors that Japan held vast deposits of coal increased the appeal of establishing commercial and diplomatic contacts with the Japanese.
For the US to annex Japan within an Imperial system, would have been considered unpalatable to all the former colonial areas of the world and would have violated all of the avowed principles the US maintained it fought WWII for.
North Korea's total external debt was estimated at 5.9~14.7 billion dollars as of the end of 2021.
Is China in more debt than the US?
Debt as a share of GDP has risen to about the same level as in the United States, while in dollar terms China's total debt ($47.5 trillion) is still markedly below that of the United States (close to $70 trillion). As for non-financial corporate debt, China's 28 percent share is the largest in the world.
Around 70% of Japanese government bonds are purchased by the Bank of Japan, and much of the remainder is purchased by Japanese banks and trust funds, which largely insulates the prices and yields of such bonds from the effects of the global bond market and reduces their sensitivity to credit rating changes.
- Somalia.
- South Sudan.
- Sudan.
- Tanzania.
- The Gambia.
- Togo.
- Uganda.
- Zambia.
Rank & Country | GDP (USD billion) | GDP Per Capita (USD thousand) |
---|---|---|
#1 United States Of America (U.S.A) | 27,974 | 83.06 |
#2 China | 18,566 | 13.16 |
#3 Germany | 4,730 | 56.04 |
#4 Japan | 4,291 | 34.55 |
The Singapore Government has no net debt. We have a strong balance sheet with assets in excess of liabilities.
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