So... can someone explain who do we owe this 38T$ *TO*?
Or is this more similar medical debt funny money where they just use a RNG to make up a number.
Or is this more similar medical debt funny money where they just use a RNG to make up a number.
so if you have any investments even in your 401k, or hold any ETFs, much of it is invested in those
holders are individuals domestic and worldwide, retirement plans, foreign governments, banks, central banks like the Federal Reserve
the US government slowly pays people back with revenue and other people's money via newly issued bonds, over time, and does it very reliably, so people keep buying. The US government's revenue comes mostly from tax collection, followed and a few other sources, some private sector ownership in recent decades, and it pays the interest on all of the active bonds.
Or is this some 38T$ leveraged against our future? Like how this debacle in Chicago screwed over 75 years of residents.
https://www.courthousenews.com/seventh-circuit-upholds-chica...
"We", meaning the people and organizations, is not the same entity as "we" meaning the government.
That's what I'm asking who the debt actually belongs to. If it's "us", then how was it generated, who accepted the debt risk, and why's it going up faster?
Again, I make an analogy to $10000 tylenol pills, $16000 bandaids, and other obviously absurd medical fake number pricing. This $1T per year feels just as absurd and fake. And well, it's also a great wedge in Congress to bemoan and attack/shut down congress over that made up number.
https://fredblog.stlouisfed.org/2025/03/who-holds-us-nationa...
Yes? They're sold at auction. https://www.treasurydirect.gov/auctions/upcoming/ - I make that $547bn for auction over the next couple of days.
> who accepted the debt risk
The financial services industry. It's kind of what they do. Just because it "feels fake" doesn't make it so.
It's not really $1T sold though, $1T would be the net sales, as many bonds and bills would have matured in the same period. Gross sales is much more than $1T, but I'm not going to dig through to find those numbers.
You could maybe discount some of the issuance as internal borrowing/lending/savings, but if you want to treat programs as independent, then the interactions between programs and the general budget are real enough.
13% of federal taxes go to paying interest on the debt. That is 13 cents of every tax dollar paid. It is on track to hit 20% in the next 10 years, and that is assuming the US economy and tax revenue keeps growing.
Japan, UK, China, and the Cayman Islands are the largest private holders of US federal debt. [1]
What part of this seems incredible to you? It is indeed a lot of debt spending.
https://ticdata.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-cent...
Also, fun fact, $1 trillion is about the daily private transaction volume of U.S. Treasuries.
The US government is a currency issuer so it’s possible but not advisable.
"The validity of the public debt of the United States [...] shall not be questioned."
Everyone is in denial about the whole situation. The sensible solution is probably the FED targeting a higher inflation rate than the 2% they would prefer and work it out slowly. Nobody is sensible at the moment, so we risk having either out of control inflation for a shorter time, or a lot of people lose money. If you have too much debt, people are going to lose money. The question is the amount of pain (and the collateral pain from secondary effects) that goes with it.
The part that is internal is mostly owed to social programs like social security.
The US federal government absolutely has the ability to forgive, restructure, or write off debt in its capacity as lender. It has frequently done so.
Where do you see limitations on seeking default or forgiveness in its capacity as borrower?
The US did a pseudo default when it left the gold standard and paid gold denominated debts with paper worth significantly less, telling lenders to put their complaints were the sun doesnt shine.