| The current federal debt that the current administration is incurring in our name is forcing the U.S. to borrow billion dollars a week, and about half of that comes from foreign entities. |
| With Bush and cronies having added over $3 trillion dollars to the national debt, the country's credit card tab now stands at $8.8 trillion. This represents an astounding increase of over 45 percent since Bush came into office in January of 2001. And all this fiscal profligacy took place during the years when the CBO originally forecasted record surpluses of approximately $2.5 trillion. And there is no end in sight to the deficits.
More alarmingly we now rely on foreigners to finance over 40 percent of this debt with the lion's share coming from the Asian central banks. In FY 2006 the current account trade deficit is on track to set yet another record, on the order of $700 billion. To put this in perspective, billionaire investor Warren Buffet points out that, "15 years ago, the U.S. had no trade deficit with China. Now, it's 200 billion dollars." He says if the country does not change course, the rest of the world could end up owning 15 trillion-dollars worth of the United States. That's equal to the value of all American stock. Source: "Think the Nation's Debt Doesn't Affect You? Think Again" By John F. Ince - AlterNet - March 20, 2007 To finance the deficit, the Treasury borrows money from the public. Debt held by the public will total $4.6 trillion this year [2005], up from $4.3 trillion last year, and will climb to $6.3 trillion in 2010, the budget office said. Tax cuts have been a central feature of President Bush's domestic policy. Many of the tax cuts enacted at his request are scheduled to expire by 2011. Assuming these changes occur on schedule, the budget office predicts that individual income taxes will account for 53 percent of all federal revenue by 2015, up from 43 percent today. But it expects that corporate income taxes will shrink to 8 percent of all federal revenue, from 13 percent this year. Mr. Holtz-Eakin said that corporate income tax payments were growing more than would have been indicated by the growth of corporate profits, and that he did not know why. The agency assumes that three-fourths of this year's increase in corporate tax payments is temporary. Source: "Big Rise in Corporate Taxes Is Predicted to Reduce Deficit" By ROBERT PEAR - NY Times - 8/16/05 Because China exports far more than it imports, it has piled up reserves of foreign currencies that are expected to approach $1 trillion in coming months. China owns several hundred billion dollars in American-denominated debt and may be eager to use its reserves to purchase American companies, a step that faces resistance in Congress. What the Bush administration can offer China in return, many experts say, is a pledge by Mr. Bush to block protectionist measures in Congress like the one pushed by Mr. Schumer and Mr. Graham. “The Chinese are very unsettled by the results of the election,” said Jeffrey A. Bader, a director of Chinese studies at the Brookings Institution. Source: "Fed Chief’s Help Enlisted for Trip to Press China " By STEVEN R. WEISMAN - NY Times - November 23, 2006 It's a safe bet that [mortgage] lenders wouldn't be so freewheeling if they had to worry about being paid back in full. But it's unusual for lenders to bear the entire risk of the loans they make: they sell many mortgages to private investment banks, which slice and dice them into various securities - an interest-only portion, say, and a principal-only portion. Those securities are then sold to other investors, like mutual funds, pension funds, hedge funds, European insurance companies and the central bank of China, to name a few. Investors now hold $4.6 trillion in mortgage-backed securities. That's more than the outstanding value of United States Treasuries. Source: "Risky Mortgage Business" - NY Times - 7/6/05 |
No one has submitted a comment on this statement yet.
Be the first and submit your feedback below.
Submit your comment below |