As of Dec. 31, 2010, the "Total public debt outstanding" was $14.03 trillion. That is 95.6% of 2010's annual GDP of $14.7 trillion.
Interest on the debt was about $414 billion in Fiscal Year 2010.
The US government subsidizes US agriculture with taxpayer money. The current payments are around $20 billion per year to farmers in direct subsidies.
US agricultural products are then available on the world market for less than the cost of production. So every product sold costs the US taxpayer money.
China (and others) purchase US grown food products and transport them across vast oceans for less than the cost of growing them, thanks in part to US taxpayer subsidies.
Some of the money they save is loaned back to the US at interest rates above what our own government and banks pay to us for our savings.
The feds then take more US taxpayer money to pay the interest on the money borrowed from China and other countries.
China holds about 20% of the US debt so they receive about $80 billion a year in interest payments from the US.
China's defense budget in 2010 is estimated at about $75 billion. So our interest payments essentially finance their military.
16 posted on 01/29/2011 5:28:55 PM PST by Iron Munro
(Liberalism is nothing more than childlike emotionalism applied to adult issues.)