雅虎文章披露,中国买美债创新高,帮助支付美国的多项费用,成了美国的提款机 ZT

来源: 琼花 2014-01-18 02:11:13 [] [旧帖] [给我悄悄话] 本文已被阅读: 次 (10107 bytes)
 

How China helps pay for Medicare, U.S. aircraft carriers

The Exchange
 
Handout photo shows Aviation Boatswain's Mate 2nd Class Tyler Stives inspecting a catapult after an aircraft launch aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington during Annual Exercise 2013, at sea
.

View photo

 

Chinese holdings of U.S. federal debt hit a new record high toward the end of 2013. We should probably be grateful.

At the end of November (the latest data available), China held $1,317,000,000,000 in U.S. Treasury securities. If all those zeroes make your head swim, that’s about $1.32 trillion, which exceeds the prior record, from 2011. China has been the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt since 2008, when it overtook Japan, which is now No. 2. 

Chinese holdings of U.S. debt strike some people as a national-security vulnerability, but that’s largely a myth fed by fear-mongering xenophobes. For one thing, the debt held by China only amounts to about 7.6% of the entire $17.2 trillion in U.S. debt. About two-thirds of the national debt is held in the United States, with roughly 45% of that held by government trust funds and other federal agencies, much of it taxpayer money slated to be spent on Social Security and other entitlements. Overall, Uncle Sam’s portfolio of creditors is pretty well diversified.

Borrowing from all sources, including China, also helps Washington pay for more programs than Americans finance on their own through taxes. A trenchant irony of China’s lending to the United States is it helps pay for aircraft carriers, fighter jets, missiles and other military hardware that would menace China if there were ever a standoff between the two nations.

"One big pot of cash"

Funds from China also help pay for Medicare, highways, education grants, prisons, food stamps and most other things the federal government spends money on. A few programs — most notably, Social Security — have a dedicated source of funding. Medicare is partly funded that way, but money for some parts of the popular healthcare program for seniors comes from the Treasury Department’s general fund. For the most part, money from taxes and borrowing goes into the same pool at the Treasury, with no distinctions on how dollars from different sources are spent. “Whether the payments are derived from debt or taxes, it’s all one big pot of cash,” says Deborah Lucas, a finance professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

China’s holdings of U.S. debt may actually be a bigger worry for China than for America. “When people ask ‘how bad would it be for the United States if China withdrew its money,’ the answer is, 'how bad would it be for China if the United States went bankrupt?'” says Richard Kogan of the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. “China has a big stake in the solvency of the United States. They want us to pay all their principal and interest and keep buying the stuff they make.”

There’s little or no evidence, in fact, that China’s foreign-debt holdings have ever been used for political purposes. China mostly invests its reserves the way any nation seeking financial stability would.

The vast scale of borrowing by the U.S. government is a different story altogether and a legitimate worry. Washington has made halting progress on its debt recently, with the annual deficit dropping from $1.1 trillion in 2012 to $680 billion in 2013. That should fall to about $560 billion this year, according to the Congressional Budget Office, and perhaps lower if the economy exceeds expectations and tax revenues rise.

There’s still no plan, however, for addressing federal budget gaps that are expected to explode starting around 2020, as spending on retiring baby boomers skyrockets. With luck, China will still have a lot of money to invest by then — and remain in an accommodating mood.

Rick Newman’s latest book is Rebounders: How Winners Pivot From Setback To Success. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman.

所有跟帖: 

文章最后说:2020年美将遭遇财政支出困境,仍希望中国以配合的态度大举购买美债 -琼花- 给 琼花 发送悄悄话 (0 bytes) () 01/18/2014 postreply 02:18:54

回复:雅虎文章披露,中国买美债创新高,帮助支付美国的多项费用,成了美国的提款机 ZT -panlm_- 给 panlm_ 发送悄悄话 (169 bytes) () 01/18/2014 postreply 06:23:05

中国不买美债创,谁能帮助研究把钱投在那里合适?经济问题最好用经济说话。 -相当冷静- 给 相当冷静 发送悄悄话 (0 bytes) () 01/18/2014 postreply 06:28:07

中国买美债创新高,赚取利息也创新高,很安全投资,因为美国有大量投资在中国。 -mrict.- 给 mrict. 发送悄悄话 (0 bytes) () 01/18/2014 postreply 06:40:10

It is not that simple. As far as I can see, China also gains a l -2544- 给 2544 发送悄悄话 (0 bytes) () 01/18/2014 postreply 07:15:54

请您先登陆,再发跟帖!

发现Adblock插件

如要继续浏览
请支持本站 请务必在本站关闭/移除任何Adblock

关闭Adblock后 请点击

请参考如何关闭Adblock/Adblock plus

安装Adblock plus用户请点击浏览器图标
选择“Disable on www.wenxuecity.com”

安装Adblock用户请点击图标
选择“don't run on pages on this domain”