Who does the U.S owe it's debt to(If it does at all), and how does it affect our lives?

Question

I've been wondering these. Thanks.

Answer 1

The 44% of the US government debt is held outside the US with Japan, China and the UK holding over half. Much of it is held by the central bank and in China all of it is. The other 66% is owned by US citizens and financial institutions.
We do not owe the trade deficit, The amount that other countries gained in trade with us was used to buy US securities and stocks, because the balance of payments must be just that, balanced.

The US government debt will cause taxes in the future to be higher than the would otherwise be, but unless the debt rises faster then GDP it will not be a real problem. see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:US_Public_debt_per_GDP_1791-2006.svg

The result of the trade deficit will be that some billionaire in Japan will own large shares of US assets instead of a US billionaire. This means that the income from the assets will not be taxed by the US. This will also increase furture taxes.

Answer 2

The U.S., as do the majority of nations, operates a constantly revolving debt incurrance and clearance policy.
It is composed of Public (Government) and Private (Commercial/Industrial) debt.

Government debt is incurred by credit acquisition to supply funding for necessary(?) provision of goods and services (like infrastructure and welfares) that the community could not immediately afford themselves.Similarly Private credit provides funding for production, marketing et al for (hopefully) profit return.
Sources of funding (credit/debt) are many, global, constantly changing (according to "best deals") and may be provided by Governments or private corporations.
Essentially the same problems afflict nations as individuals in manageing debt responsibilities -- just the scale and ability to influence structure differs. Ultimately repayment of Public and Private debt,like that of individuals, devolves to spreading across all citizens/customers. This applies equally to fiscal and moral debts.

The successfull management of debt behaviour affects the lives of the debtor(s) by their inclusion or ostracism in further opportunities of benefit.
As example, for many years the U.S. had not paid it's United Nations membership debt and, as such, was not entitled to participate in the benefits and procedures offered by the U.N. (including sitting on The Security Council).
Yet because of it's position and abilities the US was permitted continued participation in the UN (which may have been denied other nations in similar circumstances). Despite this, the US had money sufficient to wage an illegal war (i.e. non-UN sanctioned) in Iraq`and elsewhere. It affect your lives by the pariah-hood and antipathy shown shown you in the denial of offices, respect and opportunities that may otherwise be proffered.

Answer 3

we have trade deficits(we import more than export) with Most countries since we import so much...we owe a lot of foreign countries money because of this...also the gov't issues securities like treasury bills, treasury notes and treasury bonds to help raise money to pay off its debt. The money investors pay for these treasury items are bought at a discount or have interest payments attached to them. But the rate at which the gov't pays to holders of gov't securities is less then the interest rate given to foreign countries