At the end of March 2010, the national debt stood at $12.8 trillion. And if you look at some of the U.S. debt clocks that display real-time estimates, such as this one here, you will see that in the three months since that number has exceeded $13 trillion — and counting. What is commonly referred to as ”the U.S. debt” is basically securities such as savings bonds, bills, notes and other bonds that are issued by the Treasury and other federal agencies under special financing authorities. If you own Treasuries (or a fund that invests in them), you own a piece of the national debt. Who else does? The latest numbers can be found in the latest Treasury Bulletin, released in June 2010 and reflecting data through March 31, 2010. The largest chunk of Treasury securities is, in fact, held by Federal Reserve banks, adding up to $940 billion at the end of the period. And when it comes to foreign holders, number one is China, which at that time held nearly $900 billion’s worth. (Japan was a close second, with $784.9 billion.) You can find the details in the Treasury Bulletin – or for a more visual presentation, check out our infographic.
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8 Comments so far
leave a commentI was thinking how the US has changed from the 1950s and 1960s the other day…we had so much more growth and money available in the country then for a larger part of our population.
Now we are giving this advantage to other countries, one being China.
We really need to change our national policies on how we manage our money in the US. It worked back in the 50s…let’s get back to it.
The really wealthy people have kept these same principles in place and that is why they are wealthy and have money that they have managed well.
Looks to me like China owns about 7% of TOTAL US debt. That’s a lot but hardly catastrophic.
You’ll all be pleased to know that I am taking good care of my little chunk of the national debt.
The Federal Reserve owns the country. To make matters worse, we have to BORROW from the Fed to pay them back. Every dollar pushed into the economy by the Fed has interest associated with it.
china againts japan on your report? with $900 billion’s worth… cool…
Though 7% seems like a little portion of it…. i think that’s pretty significant considering what would happen if they floated the value of their currency to what it is actually worth.
We are all enslaved by debt! Yay Govenrment!
Josh,
Love the graphic, but I don’t understand this:
The largest chunk of Treasury securities is, in fact, held by Federal Reserve banks, adding up to $940 billion at the end of the period.
How did you come up with the $940 B number?
Shouldn’t it be more like 5.4 Trillion?