Unfortunately, borrowing 39% of our debt from sources other than ourselves is still a lot of money we have to repay, but all any of this does is kick the can down the road. Of course it has occurred to me that, for the purpose of getting re-elected, that's all Obama thinks he has to do.
Copy the title of a WSJ article and paste it into Google's search bar. The first result (occasionally the second) will be a free pass for the entire article. Google and WSJ cut that deal a couple years ago.
borrowing 39% of our debt from sources other than ourselves is still a lot of money we have to repay
The rest of it is not entirely from foreigners, perhaps even a minority of it. But, in the end, it has to be repaid no matter who borrowed it. Lending it to foreigners rather than Americans has no economic effect.
In fact, printing the money to buy the debt is disastrously worse than foreigners' buying it with honest-to-goodness money that they've earned by producing tangible goods.