US Debt - Who Holds it and How Much

Everyone is talking about the U.S. debt and there is a lot of "funny math" being bantered about, especially given an election year and we're talking about the Government, after all. With that said here is a break down of how much "debt" the U.S. has and who exactly is paying for it aka who "holds" it.

Remember when dealing with the Federal Government nothing is as it seems, in fact, it is always much worse. The term "debt" in simple speak not gov-o-lawyer speak means money we currently owe and the bill has come in the mail, as of today. Remember, if the bill hasn't come in the mail yet the Government doesn't count it as debt or owing anything. (I know sounds wierd but it's true).

1. Federal Reserve - $1.65 Billion
- Other Intra-governmental Holdings (Medicare, Social Security) - $6.326 trillion (these two are lumped together by law)

2. China - $1.132 trillion

3. Other Investors/Savings Bonds - $1.107 trillion

4. Japan - $1.038 trillion

5. Pension Funds - $842.2 billion

6. Mutual Funds - $653.5 billion

7. State and Local Governments - $484.4 billion

8. The United Kingdom - $429.4 billion

9. Depository Institutions (local banks credit unions etc) - $284.5 billion

10. Insurance Companies - $250.1 billion

And the grand total is, if you have a calculator that big... 16 Trillion

But wait it gets better. The U.S. must pay interest on the money it borrows, just like on your credit card.

The U.S. Pays between .06% and 8.5% interest on $16 Trillion that's $16,000,000,000,000.

But wait there's more! As I mentioned earlier that is money where the "bill has come in the mail" so to speak. If you add in the bills that haven't come in the mail yet, but the Government HAS spent the money already it is $60 Trillion... $60,000,000,000,000.

...and my final offer... ten years ago it was $2.5 Trillion. So how did we go from 2.5 trillion to 60 trillion... You can thank George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush for getting us to almost 30 Trillion and Barack Obama for taking us from 30 Trillion to 60 Trillion in four short years.