In the book titled "I.O.U.S.A" by Addison Wiggin & Kate Incontrera, former Comptroller General of United States does argue that: *the most serious threat to the United States is not someone hiding in a cave in Pakistan, but our own fiscal irresponsibility.* He may be right if the figures stated hereunder are to believed. Admittedly debt as a percentage of GDP is not at unreasonable levels it will need to be fixed before it becomes a serious problem.
Semei ========================================================= With all of the bailout and deficit spending talk during the Presidential election, American voters became (painfully) aware of the debt the U.S. owes to other countries.China was mentioned several times during the debates and currently the U.S. owes them a cool $541 billion. Certainly not good on the surface and even worse when you discover that China is neither the only country we owe or the most amount of money we owe. So who else is on the list? Japan holds U.S. debt in the amount of $586 billion. United Kingdom holds U.S. debt in the amount of $307 billion. OPEC* nations hold U.S. debt in the amount of $179 billion. Caribbean Banking Centers hold U.S. debt in the amount of $147 billion. Russia holds U.S. debt in the amount of $74.4 billion. *OPEC includes Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, among others. No Free Ride… The debt is in the form of U.S. Treasury securities. In a nutshell meaning it must be paid back and it must be paid back with interest. Sooner or later a large amount of money must leave the U.S. to pay back the creditor countries. The government and the American economy have yet to put a hold on this deficit spending. It has grown dramatically over the past 8 years. For example, today's debt to China ($541 billion) was $61 billion in 2001. Like a young couple that has gotten out of hand with a credit cards the U.S. spending needs to be reigned in and immediately controlled or stories about U.S. being foreclosed on will no longer be farfetched jokes on late-night television but a painful reality.
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