| − | There are two components to the [[national debt]]: the debt held by the public, and intra-governmental debt. The former is defined as the debt held by any individual or entity that is not the federal government, such as a mutual fund, individual investor, foreign government, or a municipal government.<ref>http://www.concordcoalition.org/issue-briefs/2011/0708/understanding-federal-debt-limit</ref> Intra-governmental debt is debt the government owes itself, such as the Social Security Trust Funds, the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, and the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund.<ref>http://www.concordcoalition.org/issue-briefs/2011/0708/understanding-federal-debt-limit</ref> Currently debt held by the public comprises roughly two-thirds of the total federal debt. | + | There are two components to the [[national debt]]: the debt held by the public, and intra-governmental debt. The former is defined as the debt held by any individual or entity that is not the federal government, such as a mutual fund, individual investor, foreign government, or a municipal government.<ref>http://www.concordcoalition.org/issue-briefs/2011/0708/understanding-federal-debt-limit</ref> Intra-governmental debt is debt the government owes itself, such as the Social Security Trust Funds, the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, and the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund.<ref>http://www.concordcoalition.org/issue-briefs/2011/0708/understanding-federal-debt-limit</ref> |
| | + | Foreign governments, especially communist [[China]], liberal institutional investors, insurance companies, and domestic governmental entities hold the vast majority of the US debt. Very little of it is owned by [[grassroots]] [[American]] investors.<ref>https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2022/09/the-federal-government-has-borrowed-trillions-but-who-owns-all-that-debt</ref> |