US Public debt
EXCERPT:
United States public debt
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U.S. Budget & Debt Topics
Major dimensions[show]United States public debt United States federal budget
Health care reform in the United States Social Security debate (United States)Military budget of the United StatesEconomy of the United States Subprime mortgage crisis Taxation in the United States
Mandatory Programs[show]Medicare (United States)Social Security (United States)
Terminology[show]Cumulative deficit = Debt Inflation Balance of payments
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U.S. debt from 1940 to 2009. Red lines indicate the Debt Held by the Public (public debt) and black lines indicate the gross debt, the difference being that the gross debt includes funds held by the government (e.g. the Social Security Trust Fund). The second chart shows debt as a percentage of U.S. GDP or dollar value of economic production per year. Data from U.S. Budget historical tables at whitehouse.gov/omb and other tables listed when you click on the figure. Note that the top panel is deflated to 2009 dollars and not in nominal year dollars.The United States public debt is presented by the United States Treasury as two calculations: "Debt Held by the Public", defined as U.S. Treasury securities held by institutions outside the United States Government, and the "Gross Debt," which includes intra-government obligations (e.g., the Social Security Trust fund).[1]

As of July 5, 2010, the "Total Public Debt Outstanding" was approximately 90% of annual GDP, ($13.182 Trillion) with the constituent parts of the debt being "Debt held by the Public" being approximately 60% of GDP ($8.67 Trillion) and "Intergovernmental Debt" standing at 40% of GDP ($4.55 Trillion). The United States has the third lowest Debt to GDP ratio of the G8 Nations (when using "Debt held by the Public" as the measure) [2] Within the remainder of this article the phrase "Public Debt" is employed as a shorthand for "Debt Held by the Public". The terms of "Debt Held by the Public" and "Total Public Debt Outstanding" are often used interchangeably, with much contention as to which is the true measure of government debt, yet what both measures share in common is that they both contain sovereign issued bonds backed by the Full Faith and Credit of the United States of America, with the differentiating factor as to who the holders of the bonds are, the "public" or "intergovernmental agencies".

The national debt should not be confused with the trade deficit, which is the difference between net imports and net exports. State and Local Government Series securities, issued by state and local governments, are not part of the United States government debt.[3]

The annual government deficit or surplus refers to the cash difference between government receipts and spending ignoring intra-governmental transfers. The gross debt increases or decreases as a result of this unified budget deficit or surplus. However, there is certain spending (supplemental appropriations) that add to the gross debt but are excluded from the deficit. The total debt has increased over $500 billion each year since fiscal year (FY) 2003, with increases of $1 trillion in FY2008 and $1.9 trillion in FY2009.[4]



Japan not China owns US national debt? audio inside
EXCERPT:
February 18, 2010 In recent months, China has cut back on its stockpile of U.S. government debt. China is now the second-largest holder of U.S. Treasuries, behind Japan.

Japan, the Rockerfellers and the Rothschilds
EXCERPT:
Japanese Freemasons claim their links with Western Freemasons go back to ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian times but, I have not been able to verify this.

The earliest verifiable links go back to when the Khazar empire was destroyed by the Mongols and the Russians about 1,000 years ago. At the time their elite class fled with their treasure into Europe and China. The group that fled to China then fled to Japan as Kublai Khan's armies conquered China. That is why the Star of David can be seen in 1,000 year-old shrines in Japan. The original Khazars were fully assimilated by the Japanese elite over the ensuing centuries but certain Freemason/Khazar influences became a permanent part of Japanese culture.

After Admiral Perry arrived and forced the Japanese to open up their economy, the Rothschild's man in Asia, Jardine Matheson, sent an agent to Japan. His name was Thomas Blake Glover and his mission was to create a new arms market by starting a civil war in Japan. The ultimate aim of this war was to prepare Japan for colonization. He managed to sell some battleships and weapons but in the end, Glover's plot was uncovered and he was driven into bankruptcy.

By this time, learning of the association with their long lost cousins, the Freemasons decided on a different approach. A different Rothschild Freemason agent, Guido H.F. Verbeck, started a very successful Japanese franchise. He is the man in the center of this photograph.

US debt
EXCERPT:
Federal Reserve Head Not Concerned over China U.S. Debt Holdings

By Andrzej Zwaniecki
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke played down fears expressed by U.S. lawmakers that China might shake the U.S. economy by selling significant chunks of the U.S. debt it holds.

In his first appearance before the Senate as the head of the U.S. central bank, Bernanke was pressed by Banking Committee members on the question of the U.S. economy's vulnerability to changes in China's U.S.-dollar denominated assets.

But Bernanke said he is not "deeply" concerned about the issue.

"I don't think that the Chinese ownership of U.S. assets is so large as to put our country at risk economically," he said February 16.

At the end of 2005, China, with $820 billion in such assets, was the second-largest holder of U.S. debt after Japan, which held about $10 billion more.

DEBT

EXCERPTS:
1) As my MSNBC.com colleague Tom Curry wrote last week , Clinton is making America’s dependence on Chinese investors a central theme of her 2008 presidential campaign. When people ask her why the U.S. doesn’t get tougher with China on issues like trade, she says, her response has been: “How do you get tough on your banker?"

2) Just who owns the U.S. national debt?
And is growing foreign investment in the U.S. bad for America?
by John W. Schoen
Senior Producer

msnbc.com
updated 3/4/2007 3:27:48 PM ET
This week, readers are worried about the about the dangers of the steady rise in U.S. debt – after back-to-back warnings from sources as diverse as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and investment guru Warren Buffet. Dick in Michigan wants to know just where this borrowed money comes from; Kim in Maryland is worried that foreign lenders like China may be gaining an unhealthy upper hand in its relations with the U.S.

The Bush administration talks about spending a million here and a billion there adding up to trillions for the war. Since the country is so far in debt, where is all this money they are talking about spending, coming from? I know it is borrowed, but from whom?
-- Dick, Howard City, Mich.

The money is borrowed from buyers of Treasury securities -- which are basically a big batch of IOUs that are auctioned off every three months. As the auction date approaches, the Treasury figures out how much it will need to pay off old debt and cover the government’s latest round of overspending.

When the auction day comes, buyers submit bids in the form of the interest rate they’re willing to accept. You can choose to make a competitive bid (you ask for a specific rate) or a non-competitive bid (you agree to accept the average rate of other winning bids.) When all the bids are in, the Treasury starts at the bottom, taking the lowest bids until it has collected enough money to cover that round of borrowing.

The money flows in from all over the place: from individual investors and corporations, pension funds and governments, both in the U.S. and around the world. Basically, anyone with a large amount of cash looking for a safe place to put it is a good candidate for holding U.S. Treasury debt.

So just who are these lenders? As of last June (the latest complete breakdown available), the biggest holder of Treasury debt was the U.S. government itself, with about 52 percent of the total $8.5 trillion in paper that's out there. Most of the government’s holdings are massive savings accounts for programs like Social Security and Medicare. Just as you may prefer to keep your Individual Retirement Account in the safe Treasury bonds, the folks who manage the Social Security Trust Fund are looking for a secure investment, too.