As we reported last week, China is dumping US debt. China’s holdings of US Treasuries fell for the third consecutive month in August. The Chinese shed another $6 billion in US debt, dropping its total holdings to $1.165 trillion. Over the last year, China’s holdings of Treasury bonds fell by $37 billion year-on-year.
But China has debt problems of its own. Local Chinese governments have reportedly piled up about $5.8 billion in debt. An S&P analyst called Chinese debt “an iceberg with titanic credit risks.”
Peter Schiff recently appeared on RT to talk about the US and Chinese debt.
The US federal government posted the largest budget deficit since 2012 in fiscal 2018. Uncle Sam ended 2018 $779 billion in the red, adding to the ballooning national debt. The Bipartisan Policy Center called the Treasury report a “wakeup call,” noting that trillion dollar deficits during an economic expansion are a serious issue.
But not everybody is concerned. Peter Schiff appeared on RT this week to debate a socialist about the deficit.
On Tuesday, US stock markets rallied. The Dow was up over 500 points. That led a lot of people to conclude that the recent declines were just a correction. But as Peter Schiff pointed out in his most recent podcast, bear markets have rallies. Just because the market goes up a few days doesn’t mean we haven’t entered a bear market. The fact is — at this point we just don’t know.
But the dynamics are in place for a bear market. In fact, Peter has said the recession is obviously coming.
Sept. 30 marked the end of the federal government’s 2018 budget year. According to data released by the US Treasury Department, the federal debt grew by nearly $1.3 trillion in fiscal 2018 – $1,271,158,167,126.72 to be exact. It was the sixth-largest fiscal-year debt increase in the history of the United States.
So much for that Republican Party fiscal responsibility.
The total federal debt currently stands at $21.5 trillion.
The SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap podcast combines a succinct summary of the week’s precious metals news coupled with thoughtful analysis. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.
While mainstream pundits and talking heads cluck about great jobs number and amazing economic growth, by and large, they completely ignore the fact that the entire economy is built on giant piles of debt.
In our Friday Gold Wrap podcast last week, Mike Maharrey talked about the fact that the economy is drowning in debt, focusing on ever-increasing consumer debt and government debt. He didn’t even get into corporate debt.
So, just how much debt is really out there? The following bullet points will give you a good birdseye view of the debt stretching from horizon to horizon.
The federal government is borrowing money at levels one would expect to see during a major economic crisis. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal deficit for the fiscal year 2018 will come in at around $804 billion. That is expected to balloon to around $985 billion in fiscal 2019.
Does that seem pretty bad to you? Well, it’s even worse than you think.
If you look at the increase in the federal debt, you’ll find that it is bigger than the deficit. How can this be? The government simply excludes some of the money it borrows in the deficit.
The economy is booming – or so we’re told. But the federal government is borrowing money like we’re in the midst of a deep recession.
Long-term US debt sales have risen to a level not seen since the height of the Great Recession. Meanwhile, the Treasury Department announced the creation of a new benchmark short-term 2-month Treasury bill.
All of this is in an effort to cover a rapidly upward-spiraling national debt even as some of the big players in the bond market sit on the sidelines.
At the current trajectory, the cost of paying the annual interest on the US debt will equal the annual cost of Social Security within 30 years, according to a recent report released by the Congressional Budget Office.
By 2048, as interest rates rise from their currently low levels and as debt accumulates, the federal government’s net interest costs are projected to more than double as a percentage of GDP and to reach record levels. Those costs would equal spending for Social Security, currently the largest federal program, by 2048.”
Jim Rickards called them “A-list of top-tier economists.” Michael Boskin, John Cochrane, John Cogan, George Schultz and John Taylor are all senior fellows at the prestigious Hoover Institute. And they all agree on one thing.
The US is going broke.
