(09-16-2012, 09:24 AM)kandrathe Wrote:Quote:To whom would we owe this global debt?I think you know this. In the US, the government sells off T-bills, and they are held by whomever buys them -- mostly investors, and banking interests around the globe. Who will pay off the investors in these notes?
I'm not sure you got the meaning of what I was saying there.
The world is not in debt. That's impossible. The US government issues T-bills, making them a debtor. Someone buys those T-bills, making them a creditor. The net is zero - credits match debits. Since there are no T-bills going off-planet, the world population is not in debt. Some are creditors, some are debtors, and if we wiped out all debt, we would not collectively be one iota richer. It would merely redistribute wealth. (In this case from Saudis, Chinese, and American pension funds, to the US taxpayer.) This is not a problem of epic proportions, except for some hyper-indebted countries in Africa.
In answer to the question "who will pay off the investors in [T-bills]," the answer is: the United States Treasury. Says so right in the name. They pay off billions upon billions of them each and every year, and haven't missed a single payment since the days of Alexander Hamiltion. Most credible debtor in the world, with the possible exception of Switzerland.
Was that supposed to be an important question?
-Jester