Friday, October 11, 2013

Around the World In 80 USA Creditors

Putin:  "Psst..  Hey.. Deadbeat..  Where's the money you owe me??"
Obama:  ~shrugs  "Search me man..."

Everyone knows the US owes money to everyone..

And everyone knows that China, then Japan are the top two creditor nations (the US government actually owes more to the Federal Reserve than both nations combined but we've talked on that plenty)

Now what pretty much everyone does not know is the very long list of just Who we owe, because remember a desperate nation is like a desperate individual..  it will borrow from Anyone big or small...
Merkel:  "You know, we Really are going to need that money repaid.."
Obama:  "Uhh. I know..  I know..  And you Will.. Uhh."

The amounts we provide are based on 2011 figures when the total US debt was just under $14T (Its now pretty much at $15T) so we're sure we owe all the following nations more $$ in reality today than the numbers provided below..

OK, so who do we owe and how much?

We'll start in beautiful exotic Asia which holds $3T in total...

China -- $1 Trillion

Japan -- $907 Billion
Japanese PM Abe: "That does not feel like $900B in my hand Mr President.."
Obama:  "Uhh, no its $5.. now go get my car and bring it to the front..."

Russia -- $125.4 Billion

Taiwan -- $134.5 Billion

Hong Kong -- $122 Billion

Thailand -- $61 Billion

Singapore -- $60.3 Billion
~ "Please Allah, Buddha or that 'other one', help me come up with the means to repay India"

India -- $42.1 Billion

South Korea -- $30.8 Billion

Philippines -- $24 Billion

Malaysia -- $12 Billion

Remember, this is how much $$ we OWE each nation.
Philippines head Simeon Benigno:  "We are both smiling because President Obama says we are not discussing debts and he's squeezing my hand pretty tightly..."

And to give an idea of how Pathetic this is, we are a nation of 315 million people.  Malaysia has a population of 28 million.  This geographically little nation that shares the same population as Texas has to lend US money so we can survive and pay our bills...

Let's continue our journey to the old world; Europe where we only owe $1T

Britain -- $333 Billion

Switzerland -- $112.4 Billion
Luxembourg -- $78 Billion

Germany -- $61.3 Billion

Ireland -- $40.2 Billion

Belgium -- $31.6 Billion

Poland -- $27 Billion

Italy -- $24.8 Billion

Netherlands -- $24.1 Billion

Sweden -- $21.4 Billion

Norway -- $21.1 Billion

France -- $20 Billion

Wow.. if you combine Europe and Asia, we owe 23 Nations!!   And we even owe nations like Ireland and Italy, part of the PIIGS group that is such dire financial straits, the IMF and ECB have to keep propping them up to avoid true default.
Luxembourg has a population of less than half a million people and is only 998 sq miles in size (10% less than Rhode Isl.) and we owe that tiny little nation $78,000,000,000.00!!

Could we be any more wretched and embarrassing??

Let's find out.. Middle East is next...

Oil Exporting Countries -- $221.5 Billion
      * Includes Algeria, Bahrain, Ecuador, Gabon, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela
~ "Uhh.. hello..  Iceland?  You know how much I am a fan of Bjork..  Uhh.. Could I borrow...?"

Turkey -- $37.9 Billion

Israel -- $19.3 Billion

Egypt -- $13.6 Billion

We lost count of the nations by now...

BTW, not every debt is from the same time period.. For instance, we borrowed $$ from Turkey in 2002 and tapped Israel for funds in 2008.
~ Uhh.. Hello.. Prince Albert..  You know how much of an admirer I was of your mother, Princess Grace..  uhh..  Oh..  Monaco isn't a "real" nation..  Still, could I perhaps borrow...?"

It is interesting though that we give Israel and Egypt billions of dollars annually as foreign aid yet we also owe both nations billions..  You'd think we'd just use the billions we provide as assistance to simply pay off what we owe

North America is next..

Caribbean Banking sectors -- $138.1 Billion
     * Includes Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Isl, Netherlands Antilles, and Panama

Canada -- $87.7 Billion

Mexico -- $26.7 Billion
~ "Uhhh George..  I have a great investment opportunity I want to run by you.."

God Bless NAFTA, eh gringo??

Not only do we send our work south of the border while preventing their people from crossing ours, but also go like beggars into the night for assistance..

We've owed Mexico since the early-mid 1990s but the debts to Canada are recent.. We paid our previous debts off to them in early 2008 then ended up opening new loans a year later.

Whew, this trip around the world is getting exhausting.. Next stop is beautiful South America where we "only" owe $245 Billion in total to three nations..
~ George Clooney: "OMG what did I just agree to?! OMG! OMG! OMG!

Brazil -- $206.9 Billion

Colombia -- $19.8 Billion

Chile --  $18.6 Billion

Big or small, rich or poor or Very poor.. doesn't matter to us.. we will borrow from Anyone and Everyone..

Lastly for simplification, we call this one 'the Rest of the World' including Africa and $13 Billion we owe Australia..  The total here is $210 Billion
~ "Uhh.. Ben Affleck.. uhh. Good to see you..  uhh. Have a great investment opportunity I want to talk with you about later...

100 years ago the US was a creditor nation.. we lent money to everyone around the globe.

In fact after WWI ended, only one nation ever fully repaid its debts without any form of forgiveness...

Finland..

Yep.. we are all SO much better off in 2013 vs 1913..