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Debt Fatigue?
Welcome to the Know the Difference Minute for Thursday, October 5th.
The US government has issued $33 trillion in debt. Who owns all of it? Who will own it?
About 20% is owned by the government itself through programs like Social Security. It’s actually one-third if you include the Federal Reserve’s holdings in that number.
That leaves about $20 trillion to account for. Foreign governments and investors own $7.6 trillion. You wouldn’t know it from many media reports, but that number has been growing, a lot, since 2000.
More than $12 trillion is domestically owned by households, banks, insurance companies, and investment funds. Who will own the debt in the future? It may have to be more domestically owned, but with the recent increase in yields, the debt becomes more attractive. I rarely worry about who will buy it, it’s more a question of at what price or yield?
I’m Brian Jacobsen, Chief Economist at Annex Wealth Management. That is your Know the Difference Minute.