Much of the conversation from Conservatives on the Right regarding the Federal Debt speak as if all of the debt has been borrowed from China. THAT IS NOT THE CASE. At the end of fiscal year 2011, $4.7 trillion dollars of debt was held by government accounts. This consists of Military Retirement and Health Care funds (10%); Medicare Trust Funds (7%); Civil Service Retirement and disability funds (17%) Social Security Trust Funds (57%); and other programs and trusts including Congressional retirement (9%). $10.1 trillion dollars of debt is held by the public in the form of investments. The Federal Reserve System (18%); State and Local Governments (8%); Domestic Private Investors (32%) and International investors 46%) are all holders of the debt. While it is true that China is the largest international holder of US debt, China actually receives less than 10% of all interest payments on US debt. Social Security and pension funds are the biggest recipients of interest on the US debt. In other words, for the most part we, as citizens, are borrowing from ourselves and are paying ourselves interest on the funds being borrowed. Who do we owe??? We owe us! To paraphrase, we met the enemy, the debt, and it is us!
This is the voice of a former Eisenhower Republican who presently is witnessing the destruction of the middle class because of today's Republican politics and policies. Today, ideology trumps reality and practicality. The time has come for humans to take back the castles from the corporations. Comments are welcome, by the way.
