National Debt Questions

Q and A:
1.) Hope:  How does our debt compare with other countries' debts? What does this mean for America? 
Japan's debt is 228% of their GDP  the start of 2011, but this was mostly due to their tsunami crisis which America is also owed money from due to our help.
Here are some numbers from the US Treasury:
" MAJOR FOREIGN HOLDERS OF TREASURY SECURITIES

(in billions of dollars)
                                               HOLDINGS 1/ AT END OF PERIOD


                       Sep     Aug     Jul     Jun     May     Apr     Mar     Feb     Jan     Dec     Nov     Oct     Sep
Country               2011    2011    2011    2011    2011    2011    2011    2011    2011    2010    2010    2010    2010
                     ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------

China, Mainland      1148.3  1137.0  1173.5  1165.5  1159.8  1152.5  1144.9  1154.1  1154.7  1160.1  1164.1  1175.3  1151.9
Japan                 956.8   936.6   914.8   911.0   912.4   906.9   907.9   890.3   885.9   882.3   875.9   873.6   860.8
United Kingdom 2/     421.6   397.2   353.4   347.8   345.1   332.5   324.6   295.7   278.1   270.4   242.5   209.0   190.5
Oil Exporters 3/      229.9   236.3   234.4   229.7   230.0   221.5   222.3   218.8   215.5   211.9   204.3   207.8   215.4
Brazil                206.2   210.0   210.0   207.1   211.4   206.9   193.5   194.3   197.6   186.1   189.8   183.0   181.0
Carib Bnkng Ctrs 4/   173.0   161.2   128.7   145.5   152.6   139.8   155.2   169.8   166.9   168.4   158.8   146.3   157.8
Taiwan                149.3   150.3   154.3   153.4   153.4   154.5   156.1   155.9   157.2   155.1   154.4   154.5   153.3
Switzerland           146.1   147.5   108.4   108.0   108.0   106.1   109.7   109.6   107.4   106.8   106.8   107.6   110.0
Hong Kong             109.0   107.9   111.9   118.4   122.0   122.4   122.1   124.6   128.1   134.2   134.9   135.2   131.9
Russia                 94.6    97.1   100.7   110.7   115.2   125.4   127.8 (treasury)

2.) Kaitlin: Does this debt include state debt?
As of March 31, 2006 New York State had approximately $48.5 billion of total State-Funded debt. This includes $3.5 billion in General Obligation bonds and notes outstanding and an additional $45.0 billion issued and outstanding by State public authorities.The State can only issue voter-approved General Obligation Bonds and notes.  However, the State also has financing arrangements with certain public authorities whereby the State agrees to fund debt service on specifically authorized bonds  issued by these authorities.

3.) Jeremy: What is the difference between debt and deficit?
The deficit is the fiscal year difference between what the United States Government (Government) takes in from taxes and other revenues, called receipts, and the amount of money the Government spends, called outlays. The items included in the deficit are considered either on-budget or off-budget.


http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/1178/economics/japanese-national-debt/
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Documents/mfh.txt
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/resources/faq/faq_publicdebt.htm
http://www.osc.state.ny.us/press/debtfaq.htm#howmuch