Section16cattleco’s Blog

I came across these numbers and thought some of you might find them interesting. They are the top holders of American Debt.

-         Luxembourg – $87 billion

-         Banks and Credit Unions – $107 billion

-         Russia – $120 billion

-         United Kingdom – $124 billion

-         Insurance Companies – $126 billion

-         Brazil – $133 billion

-         Caribbean Banks – $177 billion

-         Oil Exporting Countries – $186 billion

-         Other Investors – $413 billion

-         Pension Funds – $456 billion

-         State and Local Governments – $523 billion

-         Japan – $635 billion

-         Mainland China – $739 billion (Up from $492 billion a tear ago. Hong Kong holds another $71 billion

-         Mutual Funds – $770 billion

-         Federal Reserve and Intra-Government Holdings – $4.8 trillion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Ok now a few of these numbers really standout to me. First being Russia. One year ago they only held about $48 billion of our debt. Why are they now so eager to buy up our debt? I don’t have an answer but I can’t help but think that they feel they need a little more leverage on us. It also makes me understand why President Obama is over there right now on a sales trip. If I had a farmer all of a sudden tripling his seed order I would most likely pay him a visit and see if he needed a little more!!!

 The second one is other investors. This being people like you and I who buy up government bonds as a safe investment. With the current downturn in walking around money and the years of paying down debt ahead of us I don’t believe this sector is a prospect to buy up any new debt.

 Thirdly Japan. I have to laugh when I see this one because that country is in udder lost financial universe!!! Their plan of buying US debt so we would continue to buy their cheap exports has not worked so well for them.

 Fourth is of course China. This number has not quite doubled in a year. They are somewhat on the some course as Japan but I have a feeling they will stop buying when they see that our expanding debt does not mean more purchases of high grade Wal-Mart goodies. It also alarms me to see how big of a chunk of our mortgage they hold.

 Lastly, the Fed Reserve. How in the world can our dollars be legitimate when our own government controlled banking system buys its own debt!!! LOL!!! What a joke!!! It is a little more complex than that but you get the drift.

 In closing I will say this. When a fella goes a little over one weekend betting on football games hoping to hit the home run and things don’t quite turn out the way he thought they would, the bookie tends to send a little muscle after him to remind him of the debt he owes. When the poor guy can’t pay the bookie back, he starts to send the muscle over on a more frequent basis taking things the bookie finds of value to him in return for the money owed. The bookie does not stop coming until he is a little more than 100% satisfied the items he has taken are of equal value to money owed to him.

 I see zero difference in our betting the future of our country by continually going deeper into debt than that of a guy losing all his ball game bets and not having the funds to cover it. When I look at the list above I am certain that there are a few of bookies on that list that will not be ok with repayment in devalued American dollars or with no payment at all. So that leads me to the question of what will those bookies want of ours that is equal value to the money owed. Maybe Iowa?

Erik