On the origins of the debt-ceiling crisis - PBS Need To Know via N+1 Magazine

Nothing easy here if you need to know - Republicans and Debt Crisis... you get the numbers honestly but you have to read

Letting one dollar equal a trillion, the total debt of the U.S. Government is roughly $14.27. This divides into $8.32 of public debt, which is held by other nations, individuals and institutions, and $5.95 of intragovernmental debt, which is owed to programs like Social Security and Medicare, and to the Federal Reserve.

Of the $8.32 of public debt, $4.47 is owed to other countries: $1.15 to China, $0.91 to Japan, $0.36 to the U.K., roughly $0.20 each to oil exporters and Brazil, and $1.70 to the rest of the world. $0.63 is due to mutual funds, $0.61 to private pension plans, and $0.31 to depositors like commercial banks, credit institutions and credit unions. Insurance companies hold $0.25 and savings bonds and state pensions $.018 each, while individuals, brokers and dealers, bank personal trusts and estates, corporate and non-corporate businesses and other investors are due $1.21. ...

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PBS -Video: Simon Johnson on Europe’s debt crisis

PBS - From "Need to Know" -

The epicenter for the Europe’s current economic crisis is Greece, a country with only 11 million people. Why has this country’s debt created so much turmoil within Europe? And is it only a matter of time until the United States feels the effects as well? In a global economy where one nation’s financial crisis can cause a ripple affect halfway around the world, the debt crisis in Greece hits very close to home.

Simon Johnson, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, talks with host Alison Stewart about how debt on both sides of the Atlantic will shape our economic futures for many years to come.

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

#PBS -Video: Simon Johnson on #Europe’s #debt crisis -
 Ancient History