Thread by @BroStreetJoy

1/ WHO OWNS THE U.S. DEBT?

I can’t sleep so I figured I’d dig on a basic idea that should be easily answered (🤣😂😅)

Some of you may scream CHYNUH!!!

They own some, but it’s what many people think

The complexity is much more concerning...

Here are the stats in January 2021:

2/ Right away, we have a confusing answer

40% - by far the largest chunk - is owed to “US persons & institutions”

An additional 16.5% is owed to the Fed

So wait, the US government is 56% in debt...to internal institutions?

What the hell does that mean?

Let’s look at the 1st.

3/ Banks, insurance companies, corporations, & individuals 🧐

I’m sorry, who are these individuals?

Does this mean, like, tax refunds & social security/disability payouts they owe people?

Or billionaires “lending a hand” & getting insane interest out of it?

4/ I’ve stumbled onto a very interesting website w/ helpful charts

& would you look at that, I nailed it:

The “Social Security Trust Fund” owns the majority, investing in the US Treasury

They literally take too much in taxes & *instead of giving it the fuck back*

They invest

5/ This next chart is very informative

That red layer at the bottom is “individuals”

& yet I still don’t know if that’s like you & me waiting on a refund or payout,

Or if it’s Warren Buffet “making a deal”

Or some messy blend

My guess is Door #3

6/ Because If you looked carefully at the Social Security paragraph

That’s considered “intragovernmental debt”

If you look at the next neat chart,

you’ll see that *out of the 40% owned by US institutions & individuals*

Intragovernmental (like SocSec) only accounts for 22% 🤔

7/ & wait, back to our original chart

(From a separate web page)

Social Security is 10.4% of the whole shebang

But it’s still considered Intragovernmental

Per this chart, US institutions account for *75%* of all our debt

But back to my original Q:

Who are the “individuals”?

8/ aHA, a clue!

You can buy bonds - like old War Bonds, but for regular times

Anyone can just “purchase some debt” by buying a bond & you can cash it in like a regular investment

So why do I think “individuals” owning large bonds in Public Debt

are not your average Joe?

9/ So back tothis chart

Of the 75% of US people/institutions that the US Government is indebted to

78% of that is owned by The Public

That’s a fuckton of money

Roughly 16 TRILLION of the 28 trillion

10/ So. Do you think the average Joe is accounting for that 16 trillion in any significant way?

Now, we have to account for banks & shit

So that brings back this: Red for individuals - that’s what, about 2 trillion?

Invested in US bonds at high interest?

11/ So

Assuming people like this own 2 trillion of our debt

Do you think they like high interest returns?

What makes the interest rate go up?

Fear of not being paid, i.e. bad credit

What causes bad credit?

Read on...

12/ Fear

13/ That’s right kids

Every time the government looks like it’s thinking about defaulting on its loans

The interest rate goes up

Everything gets expensive for us

But the People Who Bought US Debt get a higher return on their “risky” investment

I wonder if they coordinate...

14/ I wonder if the banks & THE FED coordinate on jacking up the interest rates

By making Congress do this whole dog & pony show about defaulting on our debts

I wonder if foreign governments make a few calls to raise the interest

Even a month of a few % points on a billion...

15/ Easy math: let’s say you own 1 million dollars of US debt

Let’s say the interest rate is 5%

Every month your million makes you $50,000

Not bad!

16/ But UH-OH! Those knuckleheads in Congress look like they’re gonna default on your loan! For REALSIES!

Scary! Better jack up the interest rate to 10%!

For that scary month, your $1 million gets you $100,000 now!

Now make it a billion. Or more.

Think they coordinate?

17/ I’m over-over simplifying of course, but you get the point

These “Individuals” buying bonds in our debt are not worried the US will default

But they play it up to make the investment SEEM risky

B/c when you play with trillions, single % points = lifetime earnings for us

17/ And back to this:

The FED owns 16.5% of our 28 trillion dollar debt

The FED, which controls interest rates & determines “risk”

The FED, which is not Federal nor benevolent

Think they coordinate?

Who owns Congress?

The deeper we go....

18/ I meant to end this on a positive note

So here you go...

Side note, POTUS already gave the Fed a death blow

Game Over