John O’Donnell’s Chart of the Week
Written by John O’Donnell, Online Trading Academy
The total debt in the United States is now about $60 trillion (345% of GDP), down from a peak of 365% of GDP. Many people are not aware that the big part of that total debt is private debt, about 72% of the total. The biggest risk in the debt instrument space is in private debt. The U.S. government is not going to default on the national debt (about $17 trillion today and rising). The risk with federal debt is for depreciation of purchasing power of the dollar. This week I review who holds the federal debt and how that has varied over the last sixty years. There are some surprises.
This chart is discussed in the video following the Read more >> jump.
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