By John W. Schoen
Senior Producer
MSNBC
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Japan is still the biggest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury debt ($587 billion as of January, 2008 ). China ($492 billion) comes in second, but is rapidly moving into first place: something like $90 billion of U.S. Treasury debt was sold to China in just the past 12 months. Other big holders include the U.K. ($160 billion), Brazil ($141.7 billion), and two categories the Treasury lists simply as “oil exporters” ($141 billion) and “Caribbean banking centers” ($108 billion). The list includes 22 other countries that are holding $10 billion or more.

Since Congress and the White House didn’t raise any new taxes to pay for the roughly $150 billion being spent on tax rebates and other “economic stimulus,” the government has to borrow that money; some of it likely came from China. But tax revenues and proceeds from borrowing all go into the same federal spending pot, so it’s tough to unscramble the egg. Your rebate may have been funded by Treasury debt sold to China, or someone else — or from someone else’s tax payments.
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23957476/