What is the National Debt? and where does it come from or who do they borrow the money from?
455852
There are already some good answers, but no one has said anything about China.\n\nWe buy so much crap from China, but they buy NOTHING from us. We owe them alot of money, they practically own us.
391660
No it is not true, the USA owes NINE trillion dollars to the people that buy its bonds and treasury notes(these are debts that have to be paid with interest) The USA borrows the money so it can spend it on stuff we cannot afford so they can get votes. They figure, rightly, that most voters are too stupid to know the difference.\nThey could pay for the stuff by raising the taxes, but that is not a good way to get votes.\nThey could spend less but that is not a good way to get votes.\nThis is an inherent problem with a democracy with uninformed voters.\nThe solution is not easy. We have to inform(educate) voters and potential voters(kids) and this costs money. They do not want to sepnd money to inform the voters if it means that eventually the voters will get smart and vote them all out. So they keep the kids stupid by having bad schools and distracting them with TV and games etc. (bread and circuses) this is what caused Rome to fall. Stupidity!\nThey keep the adults stupid by owning and controlling the news (FOX) and rewarding stupidity.(look at who Bush gives medals to) This has worked well so far.\nLook at the intelligence level of the present President. He is an idiot elected by morons. WE ARE ALL DOOMED. All the flag waving and guns and yellow stickers on SUVs is not going to save us.\nWE OWE THE MONEY TO FOREIGN GOVERMENTS mostly, including Red China, and also a lot of rich republicans. you pay the interest to them after they authorize the government to pay it and then take it from your pocket or add it to your own debt which you will pay by inflation.\nASK YOURSELF, who benefits from rising interest rates, rich people who lend and collect interest or poor people who borrow and pay interest. Now you have your answer. YES the govt owes this money and YOU will be paying it and your children and your grandchildren if we do not stop spending money like drunken sailors on useless wars etc. ONLY THE DFENSE CONTRACTORS( LIKE HALLIBURTON) PROFIT FROM WAR.\n\nSOON China will own us and control us and your grandchildren will be learning Mandarin in school so they can get jobs as servants in China.\n\nIT IS TIME FOR RALPH NADER TO BE PRESIDENT! Both the republicans and the democrats have failed and neither can or will ever help us. They are too greedy, stupid and corrupt to do anything but squabble with each other over the spoils.
551128
Money, money, money...Where is it going? Where is it coming from? Do I have enough? Do I owe anyone? Does anyone owe me?\n\nUGH.
503097
Both. It takes money out of our economy, and tries to 'reform' other countries instead of largely leaving them to their own devices, breeds passivity in those countries on solving problems and dependency. Our country's 8, going on 9 trillion in the hole, and if you do the math, you find that the damage that debt can do is only going to accelerate. Even if the interest on 9 trillion drops from 4% to 1%, 1% of a trillion dollars is still a truckload of money. Several truckloads, actually. As Congress stupidly signs anything put in front of em(old folks will sign ANYTHING), and the debt spins up to 13, 14, 20 trillion dollars in unpayable red ink, you're going to see the beginning of The End for this country. The shift is already on to invest in euros instead of dollars. The european countries have the debt stuff WRITTEN INTO THEIR CONSTITUTION. Maybe it's time for america to have such and amendment. Hey, Congress, sign this! LOLOL
779394
FROM BILLS AND DEBTS !?!!!!!!\nYES!!!!!
481618
There is the debt the national government owes. Then there is the debt the population and corporations owe. Then there is the debt that states and localities owe. Which did you mean, or did you mean all?\n\nU S government $8+ trillion.  Does not include unfunded obligations such as social security and medicare. \n\nConsumer debt is over $10 trillion.\n\nCorporate debt is probably around another $10 trillion. GM alone owes 285 billion and that does not include unfunded pension and health care liabilities.\n\nStates and local governments probably $30 billion. Every town, school district, airport, library, college owes millions. \n\nHope I didn't ruin your week.
444615
The national debt is actually something that is undermining our national security by handing over a very large portion of our economy to foreign powers.\n\nIn international finance, everything is balanced through a very complicated system including value of exported and imported goods, value of currency, value of precious metal reserves (gold & silver), and other valued goods. When the US spends more than it makes as a nation, there are several things that could happend: 1. Other countries step in and "loan" money to the US through the purchase of Treasury Bills (T-Bills); 2. The US dollar is devalued (i.e. goes down compared to other currencies).\n\nRight now, foreign nations are purchasing T-Bills in order to loan the US the money that it spends. Basically, the T-Bill is a note that promises the purchaser that the US Government will pay back the money owed.\n\nThe problem is, when other countries have large amounts of these T-Bills, they effectivly control the US economy by the threat of dumping the t-bills onto the international market. For instance, if China decided that it really didn't want the US to supply arms to Taiwan, it could take all of its T-bills and dump them in the international market. Overnight, the US Dollar would plummet, thus raising the cost of imported goods in the US. The result is that $5 t-shirt made overseas now costs $10. Inflation would be rampant, businesses would shut down, unemployment would rocket up, and the US economy would be in tatters in a matter of weeks.
454714
I dont know the exact amount spent on each. But I can tell you that the national debt is now around $8,000,000,000,000 and that every day the US government spends roughly one billion dollars on the military alone. By the way, all this money, the government is borrowing it from China. Sorry I cant help you anymore than that.\n\n\npeace
449180
I own everything I have-house, cars, vacation home, livestock-no debt, ZERO.\n\nThe problem in this country is that people are trained to follow the status-quo from birth.\n\ngraduate high school\ngo to college\nget a job\nbuy a car\nget married\nbuy a house\nhave children\nspoil children\ndie broke\n\nThis is the chronology of financial disaster and lifelong hardship for Americans.  This string of events forces most of us into a situation where we have to work to pay interest and taxes to keep the govt in operation.  It is a plan that the powers that be put in most tiny little pea brains to keep society producing to provide revenue.\n\nWe the people are for the most part middle class tax slaves and slaves to the bank.\n\nThe federal reserve(which is not part of govt but a private company) controls the banking and interest rates and controls the people and then buys and pays for the politicians.\n\nSome say that JFK was actually assasinated because he attempted to get rid of the Federal Reserve.  The 9 trillion debt we as a country owe, is owed to the federal reserve-they print money out of thin air and loan it to us as citizens and to the govt.\n\nUntil we start teaching the truth like this in the govt monopoly we call public schools, American citizens will continue to be indentured servants living the status quo!!!\n\nSPREAD THE WORD- NO MORE FEDERAL RESERVE
856034
Never.  It's over 9 trillion dollars.  The national debt has been with us for... decades and as long as it's not a national priority (politicians tend to look at the number as a % of GNP), then it will never happen.
899176
I read "Today our annual interest payment of more than $200 billion eats up every dollar of income tax paid by everyone living west of the Missisippi River."\n\nI've also read that it's not a problem, that a debt for a nation is different from an individual debt. I don't get why it's not a problem. Sure seems like a problem to me. I've also read that it's a small percentage of the GNP so not to worry. But I worry.
579897
Government debt\nFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia\n(Redirected from National debt)\nJump to: navigation, search\n\nGovernment debt (also known as public debt or national debt) is money owed by any level of government; either central government, federal government, municipal government or local government.\n\nAs the government represents the people, government debt can be seen as an indirect debt of the tax payers.\n\nGovernment debt can be categorized as internal debt, owed to lenders within the country, and external debt, owed to foreign lenders. Governments usually borrow by issuing securities such as government bonds and bills. Less credit worthy countries sometimes borrow directly from commercial banks or supranational institutions. Some people consider all government liabilities, including future pension payments and payments for goods and services the government has contracted for but not yet paid, as government debt.\n\nAnother common division of government debt is by duration. Short term debt is generally considered to be one year or less, long term is more than ten years. Medium term debt falls in the middle.\nContents\n[hide]\n\n    * 1 Government and sovereign bonds\n    * 2 Municipal, provincial or state bonds\n    * 3 Denominated in reserve currencies\n    * 4 Risk\n    * 5 Clearing and defaults\n    * 6 Structure\n    * 7 Scale\n    * 8 Problems\n    * 9 Implicit debt\n    * 10 See also\n    * 11 References\n    * 12 External links\n          o 12.1 United States\n          o 12.2 Global\n\n[edit]\n\nGovernment and sovereign bonds\n\nMain articles: government bond and sovereign bond\n\nA government bond is a bond issued by a national government denominated in the country's domestic currency. Bonds issued by national governments in foreign currencies are normally referred to as sovereign bonds. Government bonds are usually considered risk-free bonds, because the government can raise taxes, reduce spending, or simply print more money to redeem the bond at maturity. Investors in sovereign bonds have the additional risk that the issuer is unable to obtain foreign currency to redeem the bonds.\n[edit]\n\nMunicipal, provincial or state bonds\n\n    Further information: Municipal bond\n\nMunicipal bonds or "munis" in the United States are debt securities issued by local governments (municipalities).\n[edit]\n\nDenominated in reserve currencies\n\nGovernments borrow money in a currency for which the demand is strongest. The advantage of issuing bonds in a currency such as the euro or the US dollar, is that the universe of investors for the bonds is very large. Countries such as the United States, France and Germany have only issued in their domestic currency. Relatively few investors are willing to invest in currencies that do not have a long track-record of stability. The disadvantage for a government issuing bonds in a foreign currency, is that there is a risk that they will not be able to obtain the foreign currency to pay the interest or redeem the bonds. In 1997/1998, during the Asian financial crisis this became a serious problem when many countries were unable to keep their exchange rate fixed due to speculative attacks.\n[edit]\n\nRisk\n\n    Main article: Credit risk\n\nLendings to a national government in the country's own sovereign currency are often considered "risk free" and are made at a so-called "risk-free interest rate". This is because the debt and interest can be repaid by raising taxes, a reduction in spending, or failing that by simply printing more money. Naturally, this would increase inflation and reduce the value of the invested capital. An extreme example of this is provided by Weimar Germany of 1920s which suffered from hyperinflation due to its government's inability to pay the national debt.\n\nA politically unstable state is anything but risk-free as it may, being sovereign, cease its payments with impunity. Famous examples of this phenomenon ar
1058034
It might be current account deficit or a similar term.  There's an article below that dicusses money flows in and out of a country.
451097
The Debt of the US\nhttp://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/
23440
It goes by the world systems theory of dependency.  This says that a country in debt will always be in debt, third-world countries will always be third-world, and elite economic countries will always be elite.  See, Africa has to accept loans and aid from the economic "North", or richer countries, to pay off other loans.  This just makes a vicious cycle.  The worst thing is, no one really knows how to fix the problem.
732652
UK government borrowing does not trade on the London Stock Exchange.  It is managed by the Debt Management Office on behalf of the UK Treasury.  Treasury Bill is a US term, in the UK government borrowing is referred to as Gilts.\n\nFollow the link below for more information.
358905
The value of the dollar is directly related to the amount of debt our government carries. As an example:\nin 1999 when we were paying down our debt $1US=.618 British pound\ntoday, with our massive debt $1US=0.5483 British pound\n\nThe higher our national debt goes, the less our money, backed by the US government, is worth to the world.