[stock_toaster]

I think most of the Chinese debt is actually internal, whereas most of the US debt is external?

China is also a large external creditor, for example holding a large amount of treasury bonds from other countries.

I certainly don't know how either of those impact the calculus of which is worse and/or more manageable though.

[HWR_14]

US debt is also mostly internal. 2/3 of all US bonds are held by US citizens or companies. Of the foreign holders of US bonds, Japan holds the most.

[epistasis]

Almost all of US debt is internal. Social security and the federal reserve are the two biggest holders. Only 25% is in other countries, and the largest single other country is Japan at 3%.

If there is a secret Trump plan to devalue the dollar and force us treasury holders to accept cheaper longer term debt, the biggest plenary will be to social security.

One visualization:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/charted-heres-who-owns-u-s-...

(Though on the last numbers I saw had the UK and China with far more similar amounts of holdings.$

Calling T-bills debt is only half the picture. They function more like dollars, whose value can be deflated or increased after issuance merely by changing interest rates.

[stock_toaster]

Great info. I imagine most of that 20% of Intra-Governmental Debt is Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid?