That doent make any sense. There's no way we *sold* $1T of bonds and t-bills in 1 year.
That's what I'm asking who the debt actually belongs to. If it's "us", then how was it generated, who accepted the debt risk, and why's it going up faster?
Again, I make an analogy to $10000 tylenol pills, $16000 bandaids, and other obviously absurd medical fake number pricing. This $1T per year feels just as absurd and fake. And well, it's also a great wedge in Congress to bemoan and attack/shut down congress over that made up number.
Yes, we sold $1T of Bonds and t-bills. About half were sold to banks and foreign countries. The other half was sold to the social security retirement fund (in exchange for SS tax revenue)
The same reason you think it is absurd and fake is why others are panicking about the debt.
13% of federal taxes go to paying interest on the debt. That is 13 cents of every tax dollar paid. It is on track to hit 20% in the next 10 years, and that is assuming the US economy and tax revenue keeps growing.
Japan, UK, China, and the Cayman Islands are the largest private holders of US federal debt. [1]
What part of this seems incredible to you? It is indeed a lot of debt spending.
Why does $1T seem unreasonable? You can check the auction results, and from my quick look at a couple recent auctions, combined with knowledge that the auctions are routine and regularly scheduled, the number seems plausible.
It's not really $1T sold though, $1T would be the net sales, as many bonds and bills would have matured in the same period. Gross sales is much more than $1T, but I'm not going to dig through to find those numbers.
You could maybe discount some of the issuance as internal borrowing/lending/savings, but if you want to treat programs as independent, then the interactions between programs and the general budget are real enough.
That's what I'm asking who the debt actually belongs to. If it's "us", then how was it generated, who accepted the debt risk, and why's it going up faster?
Again, I make an analogy to $10000 tylenol pills, $16000 bandaids, and other obviously absurd medical fake number pricing. This $1T per year feels just as absurd and fake. And well, it's also a great wedge in Congress to bemoan and attack/shut down congress over that made up number.