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Who owns..click on the pages 1-19.

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read this.

"Have we paid off our post war debt yet?" Yes, 31st December 2006 was the last payment.

"who do the Americans owe all the money to?"

They owe quite a lot of it to us. UK investors (individuals and institutions) own approximately £200 billion worth of American debt, which is why investment bankers have been having a particularly busy time of it recently - trying to advise their jumpy clients on the likelihood of it all going horribly wrong. Had America defaulted our own economy would have been dealt a vicious blow at a time when we least need it.

Massive amounts of American debt are owned by China and Japan. In the unlikely event of those two countries cooperating to flood the market with their US bond holdings they could bring the American economy to a grinding halt in no time at all, and precipitate a recession of cataclysmic proportions. It's one of the reasons why you'll see the American government making a very big fuss of any high-ranking Chinese government official who visits the country.

Once you start analysing international debt you begin to realise just how desperately we all need one thing more than any other - stability. It takes very little to unsettle investors, both huge and small, and a confidence landslide, once started, would be almost impossible to stop. We should all feel mightily relieved that the Obama administration has managed to avert a default situation - even if it is only a temporary respite.

The world needs economic stability, and at the moment that's not in abundant supply.

Bingalu - 'We can always go back to bartering.' I like that idea.

Don't tell any one but...

My American friend lives in a block of flats which has 2 big communal washing-machines and 2 big tumble driers.He pays a big rent. When on certain days he can't manage his allotted wash day, I volunteer to do his washing (ie keep his 75 minute slot) and at the same time I can get my king-size duvet cleaned and dried.

I hope the forum editor approves...ok he's not an American :o)

I know that running a families budget is different to running a countries budget but I can't understand why the US still has a AAA credit rating when it has reached it's debt ceiling and it needs to borrow more (an additional $2.3 trillion) in order to pay the interest on the debt !?

What a crazy way to run a countries finances and the same goes for Greece for example or am I being naive ?