The US national debt is currently $6,728,939,818,459.65

[Car Key Boi]

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

opps, make that $6,728,944,983,224.58

we're screwed

 

[oatman]

Indeed, bye bye $

 

[dolton]

Did I not read somewhere that the UK is still paying many millions
PA to the USA on WW2 war loans raised by a very partisan wall street circa 1940??

 

[vicktor]

If The UK is still paying for the WW2 debts, heck, at least their paying something. The Italians never repaid back a a penny, besides pocketing the $100 million that president Truman lent them.

 

[dbphoenix]

Hey. Cultural imperialism doesn't come cheap . . .

 

[fxmarkets]

Update 3 rd feb 2006, will it hit the big 10.

A whopping, $8,202,916,422,126.14

how big can this number get, Think they need to hike taxes to get this baby under control....... or is it too late?

hmm 1 st world debt write off, theres an idea. and worringly enough I think the people would buy into that one. I mean the lenders have had more than their share of interest, so bugger em. US. default and battern down the hatches, wheres the bunker.

lets throw a concert.

seriously though, where is it all leading to ? anyone, carried out more detailed analysis on these matters, care to put your view forward. ?

 

[Trader333]

Who is it all owed to ?


Paul

 

[Mattybuoy]

The WWII war loans from the US were finally paid off a couple of years ago. It's WWI and the Napoleonic Wars we're still paying for ...

AFAIK the biggest holders of US Treasuries are the Japanese government and banks, but every government and bank in the entire world is a holder. As well as pension funds, insurance companies etc etc. There's enough to go round ...

It is a very large number. There is an electronic billboard in Times Square where you can watch it go up in real-time, which is fun.

 

[fxmarkets]

Who is it all owed to ?


Paul

the financiers, private banking such as the Fed Reserve. as far as I understand it.

 

[heycanilosemoney]

the financiers, private banking such as the Fed Reserve. as far as I understand it.

Inflation will solve the debt problem and screw the holders of debt eg: bondholders.

 

[Bigbusiness]

Who is it all owed to ?


Paul

Foreign countries. A lot of it is China:-

http://tinyurl.com/9try9

http://tinyurl.com/bhana

 

[fxmarkets]

hmm the federal reserve,

http://home.comcast.net/~painehouse/Articles/fed.htm

 

[mickandpete]

$27400 for every man woman and child
The rest of the world has been financing the high standard of living enjoyed in the USA for years
When the Bush admin screan about reliance upon foreign oil the question of treasury funding is swept under the carpet.
Hugh budget defecit,Enormus trade deficit
For years it has grown and grown,sometime those chickens will come home to roost.
The American economy is often likened to the engine of the worlds economy, more like the caboose being dragged behind the rest of the world.

 

[oatman]

So long as they keep exporting it, they're OK.But if the $ starts a- wobbling.........

 

[garethb]

A guy on CNBC was explaining it the other day. Apparently the Americans import lots of oil and cheap manufactured goods. This means other countries have loads of dollars and apparently the only sensible thing they can do with them is buy US treasuries. So its all OK because other countries are funding the deficits.

Added benefit to the US economy is that it keeps longer term interest rates down and keeps house prices rising. So if anybody can't afford to buy anything they can refinance their house and buy some more imports and that money comes back too.

I'm no economist but it sounds just brilliant.

 

[breadman]

Economist or not you should still know you cannot live off borrowed money for ever. My best guess is sometime between 2008 after the Olympics in China and 2015 the Americans will be in trouble and so will the rest of the world.

Breadman