To my knowledge, this is accurate. As can be seen in the first table at http://home.att.net/~rdavis2/debt06.html, foreign-owned public debt was $1.0579 trillion in 2000 and $1.8859 trillion in 2004. That's an increase of $0.828 trillion by 2004 so an increase of $1.05 trillion to the present day sounds reasonable. Much of this increase is likely prompted by our exploding trade deficit. Foreign governments invest much of this deficit back into the U.S. public debt. As point 4 on at aforementioned URL states, foreign-held public debt increased more than total public debt in 2004. Hence, in effect, the total increase was borrowed from foreign sources and an additional $48.1 billion of existing debt passed from domestic to foreign hands. Over the past three years, the increase in the foreign-held public debt has been 90.2 percent of the increase in the total public debt.
I wonder if there are any implications...
"The facts are not partisan, and they're not ideological," said David Walker, the nation's comptroller general. He should know. He's the nation's chief accountant and signs off on the government's balance sheet. America's fiscal future, he said, "is worse than advertised."
When the government next reports these numbers Dec. 15, the total is expected to reach $46 trillion to $50 trillion.
How much is $50 trillion? About $166,000 for each of the almost 300 million Americans. [Seatle Times]
American "wealth" is an illusion based on borrowed funds that will soon be cut off, followed by creditor claims. Are you ready to repay the $166,000 spent on your behalf?
Your quotes are accurate and come from the Seattle Times article at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002606771_budget06.html. However, this is the "unfunded liabilities", not the "public debt". Following is a quote from that story:
And that's only the tip of the iceberg. The real problem is that the government's unfunded liabilities — items that include everything from public debt to promised Medicare and Social Security benefits — are growing at staggering rates.
Those liabilities totaled $20.4 trillion in 2000. They reached $43.3 trillion by 2004, after President Bush and Congress increased spending and cut taxes.
This is a very serious problem. I especially agree with the proposal made at the end of the article that we need to return to "Pay-Go". However, you need to properly specify that the article is referring to unfunded liabilities, not public debt.
By the way, I noticed that the CNSNews article is at http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=%5CNation%5Carchive%5C200511/NAT20051104b.html.
remember corrected the public reporting as presented at the top of this thread, clarifying the staggering liabilities created by the Bush administration in his gross abuse of his fiduciary responsibility to the every man woman and child in America.
We now hold title -- and shame -- of the greatest debtor nation in the world.
remember corrected the public reporting as presented at the top of this thread, clarifying the staggering liabilities created by the Bush administration in his gross abuse of his fiduciary responsibility to the every man woman and child in America.
We now hold title -- and shame -- of the greatest debtor nation in the world.