The U.S. Treasury has revised its data indicating which nation’s institutions through the end of the U.S. government’s 2011 Fiscal Year, which ended on 30 September 2011. With that revision, we’ve updated our chart revealing who the biggest holders of all the U.S. government’s public debt outstanding were as of 30 September 2011:

Source: Political Calculations
Compared to the preliminary version of this chart, we see a large decrease in debt appearing to be held by the United Kingdom, but large increases in debt actually held by other foreign entities. This is due to the role of financial institutions in the U.K. acting as international intermediaries for the interests of other foreign entities. The Treasury Department’s annual revision of this data accounts for the actual foreign ownership of U.S. government-issued debt.
We note that some $1,773 billion of the U.S. government-issued debt we’ve recorded as being held by U.S. individuals and institutions as of 30 September 2011 was held by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The U.S. Federal Reserve then accounts for 28% of all the debt held by U.S. individuals and institutions and works out to be nearly 12% of all the nation’s public debt outstanding, as the Federal Reserve increased its U.S. debt holdings by $807 billion during the U.S. governments 2011 fiscal year.
Combined, the U.S. government-issued debt holdings of foreign individuals and institutions account for just shy of one-third of all the U.S. government’s public debt outstanding.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Monthly Report on Credit and Liquidity Programs and the Balance Sheet, October 2011. Table 1. Assets, liabilities, and capital of the Federal Reserve System.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Monthly Report on Credit and Liquidity Programs and the Balance Sheet, October 2010. Table 1. Assets, liabilities, and capital of the Federal Reserve System.
U.S. Treasury Department. Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities. Accessed 24 March 2012.
U.S. Treasury Department. Monthly Statement of the Public Debt of the United States, September 30, 2011. Table III – Detail of Treasury Securities Outstanding, September 30, 2011.
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Source: Political Calculations |
[...] Item! You know that out of control debt? Well we owe a lot of it to ourselves. [...]
In a properly run economy, the U.S. would have paid down its debts during good times, rather than create debts in order create good times at someone else’s expense. THEN, when bad times came, the U.S. (or any other country on the same program) would have ample ability to do some spending and stimulate the economy. If you pay off debt in the good times, then you have the capacity to use debt to get by in the rough times. That kind of economic program evens out the highs and lows and makes life a lot more livable in a responsible way.
The U.S. has been so profligate with debt during the good times that it has no capacity to take on more debt now. (In one of the greatest travesties of American history, we used national debt and personal debt to create good times for ourselves by setting up our children to pay for our easy high living.)
The U.S. already has more debt than it will ever find the political will to pay off. More dangerous by far than that, as a result of these bailout spending policies that began in the Bush II years, the U.S. NOW has more debt than it could ever pay off, for paying off the debt at any time in the future will be such a burden that it would pull even the strongest of economies right back down.
We have passed the point of no return, and that is why Krugman and others want to keep up deficit spending. Without it, there would be / will be NO economy because the old economy is existing solely on life support now. When an economy is moribund, it would be better to declare a “year of Jubilee” and forgive all debts everywhere and do a complete reboot. Tough as that is, it would put the entire world in better shape for the future.
“Throughout the years of Reagonomics, however, the United State’s national debt as a percentage of GDP — after decades of decline – grew rapidly and continued to do so under President George Bush the First. Then U.S. debt plunged for the first time throughout the Clinton years (when taxes on the wealthy were raised) and finally began to rise again during the Bush II years (when taxes on the wealthy were cut again … even more than they were cut by Reagan).” ( http://thegreatrecession.info/blog/?p=2213 )
Obama has essentially continued with the Bush Bailout Plan.
We need a major overhaul. In a perfect world Americans would get smart and elect Ron Paul...we need him for 2 terms in order to turn this ship around. We do owe half the debt to Americans. First we END THE FEDERAL RESERVE...put the treasury in charge of the Central Bank...kick out International Banking Cartel...they are the drug pushers who have our politicians eager for their money...willing to compromise America...Congress has lifetime pension, benefits...NO Obama care for these dirtbags! They give themselves raises with no shame. And the American people stand for this? Outrageous.
All these issues are just red herrings to hide the moral decay in gov/corp/gov-employee people in general. Everyone wants a free ride, corps use gov. to monopolize, get legislation passed to their benefit to get a piece of the taxpayer easy money, basically legalized plunder just like Frederic Bastiat said. The problem is not what laws should be passed or not but recognizing that human governments will never achieve peace and security and justice for all. It is an illusion. As long as humans are corruptible, love themselves over others, and do not recognize the sovereignty of God and refuse to abide by his laws, life will only be a miserable condition for most of the people.
The best defense is just not to participate because if you get involved in politics via voting supporting certain people you are part of the problem. Your hands become dirty when who you vote for does bad things.
Until we completely DISMANTLE the Federal Reserve and repeal the 16th Amendment (Income Tax) we’re just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic! In addition, this country’s government MUST start scaling back its size to being more like the Jefferson Administration (Departments of Treasury, State, and War... ONLY!). To many on the public teet is corrected by ending the programs, weening people off – say by 2030 or 2040. Pay off the national debt; end the perpetual corporation; go back to “companies,” end “corporations!” In order for PEOPLE to become GREATER, EVERYTHING ELSE MUST BECOME LESS IMPORTANT!!!! This OBVIOUSLY MUST INCLUDE WALL STREET!!!!!
It is MORE than apparent that the system IS GOING TO COLLAPSE! It’s just a matter of when... and God help us when it does!!! You cannot continue to increase your nation’s debt to the point of oblivion and think that your country’s “leaders” won’t meet Johnny Two Teeth with Mugsy in the back alley when the “leaders” have stopped making payments! Romney and Obama want the White House; why?!? I wouldn’t! Unless I systematically dismantled the system that led this great country down the tubes as it has!
Woodrow Wilson gave us the Federal Reserve (neither “federal” nor a “reserve,” but OWNED by INTERNATIONAL BANKERS... individuals!) and the Income Tax Amendment. Our currency used to be backed by gold until 1971 by Nixon’s signature “relieved” the U.S. Treasury from the obligation of redeeming “Federal Reserve Notes” (our currency) for silver at the bank. I’d bet there’s absolutely NO gold in Fort Knox, or – it there is – its owned by the Federal Reserve and/or its individual owners! Can’t prove it, nor will I ever be able to... but there’s more evidence that the gold that used to be there is either actually or effectively NOT THERE!
Whose idea was it to come up with the Federal Reserve to replace our then-current system in 1913? (...besides the obvious!) To be sure, whenEVER the government wants to “improve” on our system(s) of doing things, some evil is at work! Remove the Fed, the IRS, and the concept of the perpetual corporation (i.e., a corporation that doesn’t have to have its permission to exist renewed). The ONLY reason for “corporations” is to protect those that run them; why should THEY receive “special” treatment. Why not the philosophy of: “Where much is given, much is required!” (...not “expected!” – this is a misquote from the Bible!)
Dems want the government to fix everything using the power of government; Republicans want the business sector to run free to fix everything using the power of big business. What about the “We the People?!?” (That’s a rhetorical question, by the way.) The license for our government to exist – The Constitution – states those three words as the authors and authoritative granters for permission. We the People are the ONLY ones in authority of this country; ALL elected positions are not our “leaders,” they are our civil servants. Our elected offices (carte blanche across the country) and political system needs an enema! I think it was Mark Twain that said that, “Diapers and politicians need to be changed regularly... and for the same reason!” Yet we keep re-electing the morons that gave us this mess! To be sure, not ALL of them are corrupt, but TOO MANY are!!!!
The federal government (nor ANY government) was NOT designed to be a charitable organization... that’s the job of those within the communities of faith. Don’t like it? Move to China or somewhere else! A Consitutionally-limited Republic canNOT survive doing what it is doing... it WILL fall! It’s just a matter of when! ALL great countries from history’s past fell because they started to promise programs for “the poor” paid for by those that contribute to the treasury. They get too bloated, an economic collapse happens, overly indulgent societies relying on government for bread and circuses topple the government where it can no longer pay for the military in endless wars. To wit, the ONLY time I will see NO WARS by the federal government is when it is finally toppled; THEN the wars will turn to in-fighting and rioting (civil war).
ACTION ITEMS:
End the Fed; NO MORE CENTRAL BANKS!!! No more inflation!!!
Get rid of the 16th Amendment and the IRS, taxation is destructive!!!
End the idea of the perpetual corporation!
... Companies – good! Corporations – bad!
End the concept that the courts are the be-all/end-all!
Repeal Obamacare PERMANENTLY!
Ween everyone off and end ALL entitlements by 2030!
Stop using the military for corporate interests!
Get rid of Representatives that have been in office more than 2 terms!
Get rid of Senators that have been in office more than 1 term!
End ALL cabinet (and entire Department level) positions since Jefferson
... just Departments of State, War, and the Treasury!
This would end the Dept’s. of Energy, Education, etc. – YAY!!!
Let States manage their own affairs (10th Amendment)!
End any and all (public) unions for ANY government-paid positions!
Man-made global warming = International Tax Scheme! Don’t “buy” it!
The 2nd Amendment (guns) was to protect us from an overreaching gov.
... it was not put there for “hunters!”
Read HISTORY and turn off America’s Got Talent & The Jersey Shore!
Educate yourself; bond with like-minded people; get wise! QUICK!
“Government” and “Nation/Country” are NOT interchangeable terms!
One is the legitimate owner (People); the rest are just managers and
... EMPLOYEES/(CIVIL) SERVANTS!
Want a manageable government? Manage its purse/debt!
THEN you can manage your country!
“Unless the Lord builds the house they labor in vain!”
[...] foreign nations: http://www.optimist123.com/optimist/...-mid-2011.html The same as of March 2012: http://www.mygovcost.org/2012/04/02/...national-debt/ It is interesting to note Social security has no money in it's coffers, but it owns 17% of the [...]
Knave Dave, it is not possible to pay down the debt – good times or bad – when every dollar is 100% debt, and then add the fractional reserve system and it’s “debt on steroids”. Several others touch on it here, but never mention why, and most people do not understand how our monetary system works, and thus why it has been allowed to go on so long. Unless and until we have hard currency, we have no choice but debt.
[...] hes talking about of the US debt of 16 trillion China owns about 2 trillion US owns most of it. Who Really Owns The U.S. National Debt (Spring 2012 Edition!) | MyGovCost | Government Cost Calculat... Russia is a 3rd rate military other then Nuclear,,China is not much better, take a comparison here [...]
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Craig:
Thanks for posting.
I copied from the Political Calculations link, and look forward to reading their future blogs.