American Debt, American Dream

AMERICAN DREAM, AMERICAN DEBT * Greek public debt is just 2% of the U.S. Public Debt Total Public Debt: $13.7 Trillion Public Spending: $3.5 Trillion Public Revenue: $2.2 Trillion Greek debt per person: $40,468 U.S. debt per person: $44,014 Local Politics, Global Implications If the U.S. Congress does not reach consensus to raise the U.S. government debt ceiling above the current $14.294 trillion, a U.S. government default will have effects far beyond American shores. Over 50% of the U.S. public debt is currently held by foreign investors. SU.S. BILLIONS U.S. DEBT FOREIGN EXPOSURE TO THE U.S. 16,000 DEBT CEILING | PUBLIC DEBT 1160 CHINA 14,000 882.3 JAPAN 12,000 271.6 UNITED KINGDOM 211.9 OIL EXPORTERS 10,000 186.1 BRAZIL 168.1 CARIBBEAN BANKING CENTERS 8,000 155.1 TAIWAN 6,000 151.0 RUSSIA | 134.2 HONG KONG | 107.0 SWITZERLAND | 86.4 LUXEMBOURG 4,000 2,000 76.7 CANADA 72.9 SINGAPORE 1980 1990 2000 2010 52.0 THAILAND Is debt ceiling uncertainty good for the euro, bad for the dollar? EUR/USD RATES, ONE WEEK PRIOR TO AND ONE WEEK FOLLOWING PREVIOUS DEBT CEILING INCREASES Rates courtesy of OANDA 2.5 % Rising values indicate a rising euro (against a falling dollar). 2.0 % feb 12/10 $1.9 trillion increase 1.5 % 1.0 % 0.5 % 0.0 % mar 20/06 -0.5 % S780 million increase -1.0 % D-6 Date of increase D+6 N OANDA OANDA is an online provider of foreign exchange trading and currency information services. © 1996 - 2011 OANDA Corporation. All rights reserved. Data sources: The White House, Department of Treasury, Eurostat, CIA World Factbook