How vunerable are we when one Chinese official spooks the market on U.S. debt?

Posted on by luken7

We’re in a sad state of affairs when some in China are becoming concerned about the U.S. debt. If China pulls back on financing our country (which is essentially what purchasing treasury bills is), who will step up? We obviously can’t rely on fiscal responsibility. What also troubles me is that OPEC is a large US debt holder….OPEC. As though they’re not cleaning up on us already….

April 4 (Reuters) – A call by a senior Chinese official for China to trim its holdings of U.S. debt rattled markets on Tuesday.

Here is a list of the top 10 foreign holders of U.S. Treasury securities, which totalled $2,187.6 billion at the end of January 2006: Country Holdings (In billions of U.S. dollars)

Japan 668.3
China 262.6
Britain* 244.8
Caribbean Banking Centres** 97.9
OPEC 77.6
Taiwan 71.6
Korea 68.3
Germany 65.2
Canada 54.9
Hong Kong 48.3
* Includes Channel Islands and Isle of Man.
** Include Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Netherlands Antilles and Panama.
Source: U.S. Treasury Department (www.treas.gov)

Published by luken7

An avid and passionate sailor, drummer and technologist. My career focuses around computing and storage technologies. My passion is sailing and playing drums. I love music, especially progressive jazz and rock.