An Interesting Read On The Debt Crisis...

onalandline · Apr 11, 2012

Martin Armstrong On The Sovereign Debt Crisis

waltky · May 6, 2012

Uncle Ferd says dey liable to foreclose onna White House to pay for earthquake an' tsunami damage...

Japan on Track to Overtake China as Top Foreign Owner of U.S. Debt
May 4, 2012 - After a 9.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Japan last March and sent a tsunami crashing into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, causing a Japanese national emergency, some worried the Japanese would stop buying U.S. government debtor even sell off some of what they already ownedthus precipitating a spike in the interest rates on that debt.

In fact, according to data published by the U.S. Treasury Department, Japan has done just opposite, buying more U.S. government debt--even as China has started to decrease its holdings of U.S. debt. Data from the most recent 8 months published by the Treasury indicate that between the last day of June 2011 and the last day of February 2012, entities in Japan increased their holdings of U.S. Treasury securities from $881.6 billion to $1.0959 trillion. At the same time, entities in the Peoples Republic of China decreased their holdings of U.S. Treasury securities from $1.307 trillion to $1.1789 trillion.

In other words, in just eight months, the Japanese increased their net holdings of U.S. government debt by $214.3 billion while the Chinese decreased theirs by $128.1 billion. On average, from the end of June through February (the last month for which data has been reported), the Japanese have closed the gap between their holdings of U.S. debt and China's holdings of U.S. debt by about $53.13 billion per month. At the end of June 2011, the Chinese owned $425.4 billion more in U.S. government debt than the Japanese. By the end of this February, the Chinese owned only $83 billion more than the Japanese. If the June-through-February trend continued through March and April--for which data has not yet been reported--the Japanese may have already overtaken the Chinese in ownership of U.S. debt.

On March 15, 2011, four days after the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, the Associated Press reported: Some worry that Japan will sell some of its vast holdings of U.S. government debt to raise money. Doing so would push the prices of U.S. Treasury bonds down and yields up, raising U.S. interest rates. A report in the New York Times that same day made a similar observation.

Analysts also rushed to calculate the repatriation risk as Japanese investors with money abroad rushed to bring it home--for reconstruction or to have readier access to their savings, the Times reported. With interest rates at home near zero, Japanese investors have looked elsewhere for higher yields. Japan is the second largest holder of United States Treasury bonds, after China, and any withdrawal on a large scale could put some upward pressure on interest rates in the United States. As it turned out, the Japanese did not start drawing their money out of the United States. But the Chinese did.

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onalandline · May 7, 2012

waltky said: ↑

Uncle Ferd says dey liable to foreclose onna White House to pay for earthquake an' tsunami damage...

Japan on Track to Overtake China as Top Foreign Owner of U.S. Debt
May 4, 2012 - After a 9.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Japan last March and sent a tsunami crashing into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, causing a Japanese national emergency, some worried the Japanese would stop buying U.S. government debt—or even sell off some of what they already owned—thus precipitating a spike in the interest rates on that debt.
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Another four years of Obama will give many other countries the opportunity.

Reiver · May 7, 2012

onalandline said: ↑

Another four years of Obama will give many other countries the opportunity.
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Sounds like inane party politics, nothing more. You want to sort things out? Start by attacking neo-liberalism (Hint: that doesn't refer to the liberal political movement)

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An Interesting Read On The Debt Crisis...

onalandline Well-Known Member Past Donor

waltky Well-Known Member

onalandline Well-Known Member Past Donor

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An Interesting Read On The Debt Crisis...

onalandline Well-Known Member Past Donor

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onalandline Well-Known Member Past Donor

Reiver Well-Known Member

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