Monday, July 25, 2011

Who Holds the Federal Debt?

We owe "Caribbean banks" roughly $154 billion.  Not clear which ones or why/how/when we started to owe "Caribbean banks" billions (a rerun of Miami Vice probably explains it).  Of the $14.7 trillion that we owe, $9.7 trillion is held by the public (i.e., "Caribbean banks") and the other $5.0 trillion is held by government accounts.  Government accounts are mostly trust funds established to collected dedicated revenue to pay for such programs as Social Security, Medicare, and highway construction.

The Congressional Quarterly has a great website that has a breakdown regarding what and who we owe - - CQ.com.

Remember to watch the zeros - - in any given paragraph regarding the random story on global finance, one is going to find millions, billions, and trillions.

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