The US Isn’t 7th in Most Debt, It’s 2nd

[Chris]

Just depends on how you look at it...

The US Isn’t 7th in Most Debt, It’s 2nd

[Newpublius]

Also state and local debts count too and often debt at the macro level is viewed federally

[Captain Obvious]

What I would like to see, and this would be very enlightening for many, is - who are the debt holders?

Someone has some huge accounts receivable out there, who are they?

Nations and beneficiaries too I suppose.

[The Xl]

Our currency is created as debt.

[kilgram]

Our currency is created as debt.

The system mantains himself on the debt.

[zelmo1234]

Well the bubble will have to burst. It should be fun watching the shocked politicians that created it. (both Parties) trying to explain why they did not see it coming.

[Chris]

Well the bubble will have to burst. It should be fun watching the shocked politicians that created it. (both Parties) trying to explain why they did not see it coming.

It won't be fun. The pols will have egg on their face, but we will pay for it.

[waltky]

Debt Tops $20 Trillion for First Time; Jumps $317,645,000,000 in 1 Day...

It's Official: Debt Tops $20 Trillion for First Time; Jumps $317,645,000,000 in 1 Day
September 11, 2017 | The federal debt officially surpassed $20 trillion for the first time on Friday, as the debt subject to the legal limit set by Congress jumped $317,645,000,000 in one day--following President Donald Trump's signing of a spending-and-debt-limit deal that will fund the government through Dec. 8.

At the close of business on Thursday, Sept. 7, according to the Daily Treasury Statement for Friday, the total debt of the federal government was $19,844,587,000,000 and the portion of it subject to the legal limit set by Congress was $19,808,747,000. After President Trump signed the legislation suspending the debt limit, the total debt immediately jumped to $20,162,177,000,000 and the portion of it subject to the limit jumped to $20,126,392,000,000, according to the Daily Treasury Statement for Sept. 8, 2017. That means the total debt jumped $317,590,000,000 on the day it officially topped $20 trillion for the first time and that the part of the debt subject to the legal limit jumped $317,645,000,000 on that day. The one-day changes to the debt are memorialized in Table III-C of Friday's Daily Treasury Statement. Here is a screen shot of that table:

The data presented on the Treasury Department's "Debt to the Penny" page also shows that Friday was the first time that the total debt of the federal government ever topped $20 trillion. According to the "Debt to the Penny" chart, the highest previous level of the federal debt before Friday was on Dec. 30, 2016, when the total debt hit $19,976,826,951,047.80--just $23,173,948,952.20 below the $20 trillion mark. From March 16 through Sept. 7, every Daily Treasury Statement showed the total federal debt subject to the legal limit opening and closing each day at $19,808,747,000,000. That was because the previous suspension of the debt limit had expired on March 15 and the debt limit had been reset at the level the debt reached at the close of business that day--which was $19,808,772,381,624.74. The Treasury then started using what it calls "extraordinary measures" to keep the debt subject to the limit about $25 milion below the limit. Here is a screen capture of Table III-C from the March 16 Daily Treasury Statement, which shows that the debt limit had been reset that day at $19,808,772,381,624.74. It also shows that the debt subject to the limit opened and closed that day at $19,808,747,000,000:

Here is Table III-C of the Daily Treasury Statement for Sept. 7--the day before President Trump signed his spending-and-debt-limit deal. Like the Daily Treasury Statement for March 16, it shows the debt subject to the limit (held down by "extraordinary measures") opening and closing the day at $19,808,747,000,000:

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article...45000000-1-day

See also:

McCain: 'We Have Got to Spend More Money on Defense'
September 11, 2017 | John McCain was one of 17 Senate Republicans to vote against a hurricane relief bill that included a short-term debt-limit extension as well as a continuing resolution to keep the government funded at current levels for the next three months.

McCain said the deal struck by Democrats and President Trump last week is "devastating" to national defense because it freezes defense funding at last year's level, "which is a cut of $52 billion." "We have got to spend more money on defense," McCain told CNN's "State of the Union" with Jake Tapper on Sunday.

He noted that President Trump campaigned on a promise to rebuild the military: We've had 185 service members have lost their lives in noncombat actions over the last three years. We've lost -- only 44 were killed in combat. And that's because our leadership, military and others, have told us that our military capabilities and readiness is declining. You know, not often that I like to make -- to give quotes but I think that it's important to recognize that the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said that if we continue on this road, we've lost our advantage over our potential adversaries, not to mention putting the lives of these brave men and women at risk because we're not giving them the training, the equipment and the capabilities they need. That's unconscionable. And this agreement basically freezes last year's funding in place, which is a cut of $52 billion. Now this is a president that campaigned and said, 'I'm going to rebuild the military. We're going to increase that.' Well, that's not something that I can stand for. I believe my first obligation as chairman of the Armed Services Committee is to make sure the men and women who are serving in our military have everything they need. Under this agreement they not only don't have everything they need their lives are in greater danger. We can't do that to them.

McCain said training, readiness and maintenance are the first things to go when defense spending is pinched: "This is a product of the last eight years, not the product of this year," he said. "So I appreciate the president's commitment, but we have got to spend more money on defense, given we're in the most turbulent world we've been in the last 70 years. I don't want to make a lecture, but at the end of World War II, we designed a new world order, the longest point of peace and prosperity in history. "That is now unraveling, and I don't have to tell you all the places in the world where it's unraveling. This requires a stronger national defense, a stronger military. I mean, look at crisis we're facing in North Korea. This is really serious," McCain said.

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article...-money-defense

Related:

Record 73.3% of School Lunches Served in FY16 Were Free or Reduced Price
September 12, 2017 Of the 5,052,222,946 school lunches served in Fiscal Year 2016, 73.3 percent of them -- the highest percentage on record -- were either free or reduced price meals, according to data posted on September 8, 2017 by the Agriculture Department's Food and Nutrition Service.

Free lunches comprised two-thirds (66.6 percent) of all lunches served in that school year; and reduced-price lunches comprised 6.7 percent. Students paid full price for the remaining 26.7 percent in Fiscal 2016, the latest year for which data is available. (FY 2016 covers the 12-month period beginning in Oct. 2015 and running through Sept. 2016. It roughly coincides with the 2015-2016 school year.) The percentage of free or reduced price meals served in public and non-profit private schools has steadily risen in each of the last nine years, from 59.3 percent in Fiscal Year 2007, to 73.3 percent in FY 2016, according to data compiled by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). Children from families with incomes at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty level are eligible for free meals. Those with incomes between 130 and 185 percent of the federal poverty level are eligible for reduced price meals.

In FY 2016, a total of 31,168,859 students participated in the federal government's school lunch program, and while that number is high, it is not a record. But the number of students getting free meals may continue to rise, depending on how many school systems do what New York City just did. School lunch is now free for all public school students in New York City, regardless of income. That's because New York City has enrolled in the federal government's Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), an Agriculture Department program that allows school districts or individual schools in high-poverty areas to provide free meals to all enrolled students if at least 40 percent of those students already are enrolled in other means-tested programs, such as SNAP, for example.

New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña announced on Sept. 6, 2017 that enrollment in CEP will provide an additional 200,000 New York City students with free lunches starting this school year. Last school year, 75 percent of New York City students were eligible for free lunch. “We know that students cannot learn or thrive in school if they are hungry all day,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a news release last week. “Free school lunch will not only ensure that every kid in New York City has the fuel they need to succeed but also further our goal of providing an excellent and equitable education for all students.” The Community Eligibility Provision, now operating in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam, was authorized by Congress as a part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. A USDA fact sheet said the program benefits "everyone."

It notes that schools enrolled in CEP no longer have to collect and verify household applications to determine students' eligibility for school meal programs. And they won't have to keep track of how many meals are free, reduced price, or paid. CEP also allows "streamlined meal service" in school cafeterias, where students will have more time to eat because they don't have to wait in line at the cashier. The fact sheet also said parents won't have to worry about their children's lunch accounts; and students will benefit by getting nutritious meals without the "stigma" of being viewed as too poor to afford lunch. According to the School Nutrition Association, school meal prices vary widely across the country and are set by local school districts. In the 2015-2016 school year, the average price for paid meals was $2.34 in elementary school, $2.54 for middle school, and $2.60 in high school.

Stigma

[waltky]

... 'another day older, an' deeper in debt'...

Federal Debt Climbed $198 Billion in October
November 2, 2017 | The federal debt climbed $197,573,533,835.88 in October, the first month of fiscal 2018.

On Sept. 29, 2017, the last business day of fiscal 2017, the total federal debt stood at $20,244,900,016,053.51, according to the Treasury. As of Oct. 31, 2017, it stood at $20,442,473,549,889.39—marking a one-month increase of $197,573,533,835.88. The $197,573,533,835.88 increase in the debt equaled about $6,373,339,801.16 for each of the 31 days in October.

It also equaled about $1,651.32 in new federal government borrowing for each of the 119,646,000 households there were in the United States as of September, according to the Census Bureau. The $20,442,473,549,889.39 in total federal debt at the end of October included $14,751,096,800.09 in “debt held by the public” and $5,691,027,453,089.30 in “intragovernmental debt.”

On Nov. 1, the first day of the second month of fiscal 2018, the debt continued to climb, rising to $20,453,288,033,638.83 by the close of business---a one-day hike of $10,814,483,749.44. Debt held by the public, the Treasury explains, consists of Treasury securities, such as bills, notes and bonds, held by “entities outside the United States Government.” Intragovernmental debt consists of money the Treasury has borrowed and spent out of government trusts funds such as the Social Security trust funds.

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article...illion-october

See also:

GOP Tax Bill Slashes Size of Deductible Home Mortgage by 50%
November 2, 2017 | The tax reform bill that the House Ways and Means Committee released today slashes in half the size of a mortgage that qualifies for the mortgage-interest deduction from federal income taxes.

It also eliminates the provision in current law that allows a taxpayer to deduct the mortgage interest on a secondary residence as well as their principal residence home. Under current law, taxpayers can deduct the mortgage interest on mortgage debt up to $1,000,000. Under the Republican proposal, a taxpayer will only be able to deduct the mortgage interest on mortgage debt of $500,000 or less. Also, a married person filing singly will only be able to deduct the interest on a mortgage of $250,000. This change in the deductibility of mortgage interest is made in Section 1302 of the bill. The official summary of the bill, published by the Ways and Means Committee, explains both the relevant provision in current law and how the Republican bill will change that provision.

This is how it explains the current law:

“Under current law, a taxpayer may claim an itemized deduction for mortgage interest paid with respect to a principal residence and one other residence of the taxpayer. Itemizers may deduct interest payments on up to $1 million in acquisition indebtedness (for acquiring, constructing, or substantially improving a residence), and up to $100,000 in home equity indebtedness.”

And this is how it explains what the Republican tax-reform bill would do:

“Under the provision, a taxpayer may continue to claim an itemized deduction for interest on acquisition indebtedness. For debt incurred after the effective date of November 2, 2017, the $1 million limitation would be reduced to $500,000. Interest would be deductible only on a taxpayer’s principal residence. Similar to the current-law AMT rule, interest on home equity indebtedness incurred after the effective date would not be deductible. In the case of refinancings of debt incurred prior to November 2, 2017, the refinanced debt generally would be treated as incurred on the same date that the original debt was incurred for purposes of determining the limitation amount applicable to the refinanced debt. In the case of a taxpayer who enters into a written binding contract before November 2, 2017, the related debt would be treated as being incurred prior to November 2, 2017.”

This is how the Ways and Means Committee summary explains the change in the size of the mortgages that will be eligible for a mortgage interest deduction:

Related:

Gallup: Congress Approval Rating is 13%
November 2, 2017 | Although President Donald Trump's approval rating is at 35%, he is head and shoulders above Congress, which has an approval rating of only 13%, according to a Gallup survey. Congress had a historic low approval rating of 9% in 2013, when Democrats dominated the Senate, Republicans ran the House, and Barack Obama was in the White House.

Gallup's survey of Americans' views of Congress was conducted Oct. 5-11. It showed that only 13% of adultes, aged 18 and older, approved of Congress. This was down from 16% approval in September 2017. Approval was at 28% in February of this year, after the new administration and new Congress started.

Even along political lines, the numbers were low. Only 18% of Republican Americans said they approved of Congress' job performance, as did only 14% of Democrats. Just 10% of Independents said they approved of Congress' performance. "Americans' approval of Congress has historically lagged that of other major institutions, but Americans' views of the legislative branch have been particularly low since the late 2000s," reported Gallup. "The last time Congress received approval from even a third of Americans was in mid-2009. "It's hard to see this changing anytime soon, as the largest recent increases in approval came after one party assumed control of the presidency and both houses of Congress -- Democrats in 2009 and Republicans earlier this year." "In both instances," said Gallup, "the increase in congressional approval did not last long, with ratings reverting back to what they were by the end of the first year of one-party control -- a phenomenon that could be occurring yet again this year."

In today's Congress, the Republicans hold a majority in the House, 246-147, a majority in the Senate, 54-46, and the president is a Republican.

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article...oval-rating-13

[barb012]

How much of the public debt is owed to foreign nations? The intragovernmental holdings is what the government owes to the public.