Which Countries Hold The Most U.S. Government Debt? (PHOTOS)

New Treasury figures have revealed that some surprising countries own U.S. debt.

By the end last year, foreign governments held around $4.4 trillion in U.S debt in the form of Treasury bonds, according to government figures released last week.

Despite reducing the amount of U.S. debt it holds, China is still is high on the list, as are financial centers -- like the U.K., and some Caribbean islands -- where people from around the world make trades.

But there are some unexpected countries on the Treasury Department list, and the U.S. owes one major creditor 30 percent more than analysts previously estimated.

There are growing concerns that foreign countries holding U.S. debt could try to exert influence. Last month, confidential diplomatic cables from the U.S. embassies in Beijing and Hong Kong obtained by WikiLeaks, showed China's growing influence on one of America's creditors, with a top Chinese money manager asking U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for a favor.

Which countries own the most American government debt? Check out the slideshow:

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#10 Switzerland

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Switzerland owned $107 billion in U.S. Debt in December 2010

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Switzerland owned $107 billion in U.S. Debt in December 2010

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Most Surprising Owners Of U.S Debt

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Comments

[xrepublican]

01:36 AM on 04/26/2011

You forgot the largest holder - the FED.

Treasury needs more $$$. Issued T-Bills to finance the purchase of more money from the Fed. A commission is paid to the dealers who handle the T-Bills - and then sell them back to the Fed.

The US financial system is one big Ponzi scheme - with the Fed buying more and more US debt - to finance the issuance of even more debt.

Taxpayers got stuck with the bill for all the bad debt taken on by bankers and Wall Street and are now paying interest on that bill - forever - sine we keep rolling over all that government debt instead of paying it down.

[barbsc61]

03:03 PM on 04/13/2011

I was totally shocked by this debt that is owed to the US by these countries and yet we continue to help them out in times of need but where does the help come from for the United States when they are in Need its really ironic to see that the UK who once at a time was the beginning of our Country is now in debt to us and the other countries as well I understand that we are trying to maintain Peace in our country but we need to be calling in what is owed to us by them for our help and help eliminate our deficit in our economy that is if I am reading this correctly and understanding it We need to be Taken Care of Our People First with the cost of everything rising and no raises being given in pay but where the need is the most they are budget cuts. Now if I am wrong in my interpetation of these facts I do apologize but where is that money going if it is true ???

[Justin Ferguson]

11:24 PM on 04/17/2011

Yeah uhm no, you got it backwards-- thats a list of countries that _we_ owe, not vice-versa. The 'gotcha' is in the second sentence, where they tell us it comes from treasury bonds.

[barbsc61]

11:24 AM on 04/18/2011

Justin if you read the last line where" i said if I am wrong in my interpetation of these fact" but the fact is still where has all this money gone and why does
Social Security have to suffer because of this??

[REDSTATEREFUGEE]

08:16 PM on 04/02/2011

I have cited this factoid before, but here it is again. One of my community college students shared with our class that his economics professor asserted that, given the enormity of our national debt, there is no way in our lifetime that Americans could ever conceivably be able to pay off the balance. If my aging mind recollects correctly, every U.S. man, woman, and child owes approximately $142,000.00 for his or her share of the debt.

[xrepublican]

01:37 AM on 04/26/2011

Welcome to the new serfdon - a never-ending term of indentured servitude.

[mheister]

09:41 PM on 03/30/2011

Not to worry.

The Fed will just drive down the value of the dollar in relation to foreign currencies, and the US will give itself a big discount on all this debt it owes.

[DeuxExMachina]

01:52 AM on 04/03/2011

Not as simple as that. Some of the biggest US fund, insurance and pension managers together hold more US assets than the sovereign wealth funds of China and the Bank of Japan combined. Included in those assets are US, Freddie and Fannie Mae, commercial debt, etc. Devaluing the USD has profound implications for people, companies, trade, influence, etc both domestically and internationally. At the moment people are having to defer retirement and young people can't find jobs. Devalue the dollar and watch interest rates rise at the same time. Pensions will disappear and insurance companies will go bankrupt. Currently parents and grandparents help out their children in this economy won't be able to continue. You will see more protests than in Wis.

[medicontheedge]

06:44 AM on 03/07/2011

We are all well and truly fooked.

[narutoma]

10:11 PM on 03/05/2011

In the majority's opinions of Americans:
凡是美国的所作所为叫做民主，
凡是中国的所作所为叫做专制，
凡是美国民众支持自己政府的，叫做体现民意，
凡是中国民众支持自己政府的，叫做维护独裁。
凡是美国民众反对自己政府的，就说，瞧！美国多民主，民众都有反对的权利！ 　　
凡是中国民众反对自己政府的，就说，看，中国多独裁，连自己的民众都反对！
凡是美国民众理性反对美国政府的，叫做民主权利，
凡是中国民众理性反对美国政府的，叫做反对民主。
凡是美国民众愤怒反对美国政府的，还是叫做民主权利，
凡是中国民众愤怒性反对美国政府的，叫做义和团或者愤青。
凡是反对美国政策的东方国家叫做独裁国家，
凡是反对美国政策的西方国家叫做“老欧洲”。
凡是美国经济发展，叫做经济复苏，
凡是中国经济发展，叫做中国威胁，
凡是美国经济出现问题，叫做正在衰退，
凡是中国经济出现问题，叫做即将崩溃。
凡是美国增加军费叫做维护和平，必须欢欣鼓舞，
凡是中国增加军费叫做破坏和平，必须深表忧虑，
凡是美国在海外使用武力，叫做维护稳定，
凡是中国在境内部署导弹，叫做非常不安。
凡是美国反对外国，叫做美国利益，
凡是中国反对外国，叫做排外主义，
凡是美国登上银河号，叫做全面核查，
凡是中国登上间谍飞机，叫做侵犯主权。
凡是针对美国平民的袭击，叫做恐怖主义，
凡是针对中国平民的袭击，叫做民族自决，
凡是美国反对恐怖主义，叫做反对恐怖主义，
凡是中国反对恐怖主义，叫做压制不同声音。
凡是美国对外动武，叫做推翻专制，
凡是中国捍卫领土，叫做改变现状，
凡是美国人说伊拉克人好，就叫做帮助建立民主，
凡是中国人说伊拉克人好，就叫做同情恐怖分子。
凡是美国在战争中死了人，必须牢记精确数字念念不忘，最好牢记姓名性别
凡是外国在战争中死了人，大概数字都不用记管他男女老幼国别种族，
凡是美国人不幸丧命就大叫大嚷“人权受犯”，
凡是外国人不幸丧命迫不得已说声“深表遗憾”。
凡是美国人质被抓，就怪恐怖分子，
凡是中国人质被抓，就笑网络愤青，
凡是美国人质被解救，就欢呼雀跃，
凡是中国人质被解救，就反问有什么可乐的？
凡是美国解救人质的努力，就编成传奇故事电影大片，
凡是中国解救人质的努力，谁敢叫好就是“歌功颂德”。

[narutoma]

07:37 PM on 03/04/2011

ＯＯ═══∩═══ＯＯ
　　　　╭╬╮　　　　　　　　　 ◢
-▁╭▅▇□□█▇▆▅▄▃▂▁(╳)█╮
　 ╰═▃_▁▁▁▁∠════▔▔▔　
　 ╙O ╙O！↓

[narutoma]

07:26 PM on 03/04/2011

...．．∵ ∴★．∴∵∴ ╭ ╯╭ ╯╭ ╯╭ ╯∴∵∴∵∴
．☆．∵∴∵．∴∵∴▍▍ ▍▍ ▍▍ ▍▍☆ ★∵∴
▍．━━━━━▅███████████☆ ★∵
◥█▅▅▅▅███▅█▅█▅█▅█▅█▅███◤
． ◥████████CHINA█████████◤
.．.．◥████████████████■◤

[narutoma]

07:20 PM on 03/04/2011

征服美国指日可待

[narutoma]

07:17 PM on 03/04/2011

There is only one China in the world ,ONE,not two.
Hongkong had returned in 1997 already
And in the next decade before some idiots die,
The Taiwan island will soon return back to China

At that day,our chinese will revenge the Japanese who killed our people in the WW2.
And in the future,our chinese will conquer the outspace,colonize moon and Mars
You may ask why Chinese will do this ,let me tell you:
Because our Chinese are the most advanced race in the world,in the Solar system,in the galaxy,in the Universe! Our characters and culture has existed five thousand years before
Europeans naked and don't know how to plant crops.
天朝万岁！

[Markrsm]

10:11 PM on 03/10/2011

Dear Narutoma,

Funny how they are so poor, GDP per person of between Iran and Thailand. You would think that a country as outstanding as China would never be 90 in GDP per person.

Strange, yes.

[mheister]

09:39 PM on 03/30/2011

Thankfully, most Chinese are not so smug.

But it is interesting to note that even the Chinese have a few of their own version of the teabagger.

[AcademicFreedom]

09:12 AM on 03/04/2011

If China has so much money, how come people in the US have to keep adopting kids from China?

[James Shellhammer]

10:29 PM on 03/03/2011

You forgot to put the number one country that owed United States Debt.
Is is the United States Citizens, and United States Banks, Investment Institutes, and Businesses.
We owe over 50% of this debt.
Huffington Post had a article about this issue within the last month.
Why bring it up again.
The only way to get rid of federal debt, raise revenue, and start paying down the deficit.
The other way is to donating the money to federal government.
This is the way to reduce the deficit of the Unite States.
Your thought on this subject.

[US Patent 7089319]

08:24 PM on 03/03/2011

The increasingly global banking industry itself had contributed over $10 BILLION over the last decade on "contributions" to both parties, as to continuously disband and repeal all meaningfull and structurally important regulation.
Conspiracy to commit fraud, strict liability for failed financial products and instruments, wire fraud and obstruction of justice, RICO - all of such charges come to mind.
At http://www.WallStreetClassAction.com we organize a class action against the banks, the ratings agencies and other financial institutions involved in staging the colossal securitization fraud and subsequently crashing the economy and resulting in over $5 Trillion in asset losses in the US alone.
We realize that our own government is effectively a captured entity, so no criminal indictments will be forthcoming. But WE THE PEOPLE will hold the fraudsters accountable.
Sign up on our site, we already have more than 3,000 users within last 2 days. UNITED WE STAND
www.WallStreetClassAction.com

[Blackorpheus]

06:54 PM on 03/03/2011

Stop warring, pay off your debts, help needy Americans.

[muck-raker]

08:11 PM on 03/03/2011

The world financial system is a total fraud. It is one gargantuan Ponzi scheme, no better than the one Bernie Madoff used to swindle his friends and neighbors, and thousands of times worse if you add up the total number of victims it has ripped off over countless generations.

The principal difference between the two schemes is that Madoff was acting outside the law while the international banking cartel has persuaded generation after generation of monarchs, presidents and prime ministers to provide legislative protection for their larceny.

The banks Ponzi scheme is alarmingly simple. They lend the same money to several people or institutions at the same time and collect interest on it from each. What the banks really lend, however, is their credit, and what they take back in compensation for that privilege is a debt that must be repaid with interest.

The number of times they lend the same money is called leverage. The practice is as old as the hills but for our purposes we can start with the goldsmiths of Lombard Street in London, England, who accepted deposits for which they issued certificates redeemable on demand. They paid their depositors a nominal interest rate on the understanding that they could lend the money to their customers at higher interest rates.
http://www.victoryfortheworld.net/speech.html

[John C Osborn]

05:23 PM on 03/03/2011

Go neoliberalism!!!!! WooHoo!!!