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**devonin** · 05-1-2008, 04:37 PM

As of April 2008, the total U.S. federal debt was approximately $9.5 trillion, about $31,100 per capita (that is, per U.S. resident). Of this amount, debt held by the public was roughly $5.3 trillion. If, in addition, unfunded Medicaid, Social Security, etc. promises are added, this figure rises to a total of $59.1 trillion. In 2007 the public debt was 36.8 percent of GDP ranking 65th in the world. The total debt is currently 66.5% of GNP.

Edit: Hmm. My numbers seem to have been a bit off. 5.3T held by the public, 44% of that (2.3T) is held by foreigners, 66% of the 44% (1.5T) is held by the central banks of other countries, especially China and Japan. Looking a little deeper into some US .gov sites, it seems as though the actual amount of foriegn debt held by China is 486B, still less than is owed to Japan, and only 9% of the total debt owed by the United States.

That's barely more than the US spent this year on defense (439.3B not counting Iraq and Afghanistan which was a HUGE additional expense) Cutting defense expenditure in half for two years (While still funding Iraq and Afghanistan the same amount) would basically erase the debt with China, so I'm not sure this counts as a catastrophic economic crisis.

05-1-2008, 04:37 PM	#2
devonin Very Grave Indeed Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Ontario, Canada Age: 40 Posts: 10,098	Re: How can we solve our problem with China? As of April 2008, the total U.S. federal debt was approximately $9.5 trillion, about $31,100 per capita (that is, per U.S. resident). Of this amount, debt held by the public was roughly $5.3 trillion. If, in addition, unfunded Medicaid, Social Security, etc. promises are added, this figure rises to a total of $59.1 trillion. In 2007 the public debt was 36.8 percent of GDP ranking 65th in the world. The total debt is currently 66.5% of GNP. Edit: Hmm. My numbers seem to have been a bit off. 5.3T held by the public, 44% of that (2.3T) is held by foreigners, 66% of the 44% (1.5T) is held by the central banks of other countries, especially China and Japan. Looking a little deeper into some US .gov sites, it seems as though the actual amount of foriegn debt held by China is 486B, still less than is owed to Japan, and only 9% of the total debt owed by the United States. That's barely more than the US spent this year on defense (439.3B not counting Iraq and Afghanistan which was a HUGE additional expense) Cutting defense expenditure in half for two years (While still funding Iraq and Afghanistan the same amount) would basically erase the debt with China, so I'm not sure this counts as a catastrophic economic crisis. Last edited by devonin; 05-1-2008 at 04:56 PM..