For anyone that thinks that the rest of the world doesn't matter then consider the fact that 72% of US debt is held by outsiders and it's huge. Cutting spending is probably not going to capture many votes, so neither candidate mentions it.
Since it's not callable we don't care, but hey thanks for being patsy's when we want to engage in profligate gubbermint spending.
As mentioned on Bloomberg yesterday. Here is another fact some won't like - trade defecits with the Rest of the World. Gotta pull your patriotic heads outa the sand sooner or later.
I would like to hear the candidates views on green issues. Don't waste money on Afghanistan etc. spend it on cleaning up the planet. The US spends more on defence than the rest of the world put togethor !
Show me the Bloomberg article, please, because EVERYTHING I have ever read on the subject states that foreigners hold around 33% of the US debt. That's a far cry from your quoted stat. As for the trade deficit, I agree with you - but who's problem is that? If we stop purchasing from foreign entities, our domestic prices go up, but now we've got a large need for american production, no? Your arguments are piss poor at best, and misleading/untrue at worst.
More on debt Debt held by the public reached 49.5% of GDP at the beginning of President Clinton's first term. However, it fell to 34.5% of GDP by the end of Clinton's presidency due in part to decreased military spending, increased taxes (in 1990, 1993 and 1997), and increased tax revenue resulting from the Dot-com bubble.[9][14][15][16][17] The budget controls instituted in the 1990s successfully restrained fiscal action by the Congress and the President and together with economic growth contributed to the budget surpluses at the end of the decade.[18] In the early 21st century, debt relative to GDP rose again due in part to the Bush tax cuts and increased military spending caused by the wars in the Middle East. During the presidency of George W. Bush, debt held by the public increased from $3,339 billion in September 2001 to $6,369 billion by the end of 2008,[4][19] In the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, debt held by the public increased to $11.12 trillion by the end of July 2012 under the presidency of Barack Obama.[20][4]
It was a verbal quote. You could ask them what the figure is ? I am just a foreigner looking in and trying to make some sort of sense of it all. Probably harder to get a true perspective if one actually lives there and is patriotic etc.
Fascinating, but none of this has anything to do with the statistic you put forth as the crux of your argument.