Who Holds the U.S. Debt?

Who Holds the U.S. Debt?

July 26, 2011

The Mess That Greenspan Made - The folks at Congressional Quarterly have compiled this handy interactive chart for anyone who wants to see how much and to whom the U.S. owes its $14.3 trillion.

Click to enlarge

It’s that $4.5 trillion “Foreign investors” category that keeps policy makers up at night, though, domestic investors might someday tire of the nation’s spendthrift ways too. The big difference between the two groups is the U.S. dollar – the value of foreign investors’ holdings are affected by both the value of their Treasuries and the dollar exchange rate, whereas domestic holders see only the fluctuating bond price. This could be important someday, especially if today’s slide in the trade-weighted dollar accelerates.