Not infrequently we see and hear statements from allegedly authoritative sources that the United States is deeply in debt to China and is living from day to day thanks to borrowings from that country.
Here are the facts as they currently stand.
As of May 2012, U.S. government debt held by the public stood at $11.0 trillion, while intra-governmental debt amounted to $4.76 trillion to give a combined outstanding public debt of $15.76 trillion. (One could ask whether monies that the government owes to itself is debt in the true meaning of the word).
As of February 2012, $5.1 trillion of the debt held by the public was owned by foreign investors, the largest of which were China and Japan with just over $1.0 trillion each. Other substantial foreign investors, although on a smaller scale, are Brazil, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Singapore.
So, China is only the source of approximately 10% of U.S. public debt, and there has not been any significant change in the size this debt for some time.
Not so dramatic and humiliating as some will have us believe.
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