Occasionally, I like to check on which foreign countries own our massive national debt. The today US federal debt is 16.3 trillion dollars. Foreign debt holders have a total of 5.5 trillion giving them the privilege to hold 33% of our IOUs.
If you listen to Jay Leno, you would think China owns the whole amount, but they clock in at only 7% of the total. And China's holding have been steadily falling, shedding 115 billion of treasuries this last year. While China is cooling to our bonds, Japan has taken up the slack and bought an additional 147 billion since last September.
My previous post in 2009 is here.
