Largest foreign holder of US debt revealed — RT Business News

https://www.rt.com/business/594680-us-debt-largest-foreign-holder/

22 Mar, 2024 15:45

HomeBusiness News

Largest foreign holder of US debt revealed

Japan’s holdings of Treasuries hit a new high since August 2022, Treasury data shows

Japan’s holdings of US Treasuries have continued to grow, exceeding $1.15 trillion in January, according to data released by the US Treasury this week. Tokyo has been the largest overseas holder of US debt since June 2019.

The report shows that Japanese investors boosted their stash of Treasuries to $1.153 trillion in January from $1.138 trillion in December. Tokyo has been on a buying spree since August 2023.

The two other largest holders of US government debt – China and the UK – have reduced their holdings.

China’s holdings dropped by $18.6 billion from December to $797.7 billion after two consecutive months of increases. Since April 2022, the nation’s holdings of Treasuries have remained below $1 trillion.

Beijing may continue to reduce its share of US debt in its overall foreign exchange reserves amid efforts to diversify its portfolio of foreign assets, according to a China Daily report, citing experts. The Asian nation has been trying to reduce its dependence on the dollar while promoting broader international use of the yuan.

Meanwhile, the UK’s Treasury holdings were down $200 million from a month earlier, at $753.5 billion, falling from a record high set in December and the first decline in four months.

READ MORE: US debt to top $54 trillion – budget office

Overall, foreign holdings of US Treasuries declined in January to $8.02 trillion $8.06 trillion in December. Compared with a year earlier, Treasuries held by foreigners expanded by 8.6%, according to the data.

Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene wants Speaker Mike Johnson out

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68640138

As the House of Representatives was voting to approve a $1.2tn (£950bn) spending package that would avert a partial government shutdown at midnight, the Georgia Republican filed a “motion to vacate”…

India’s top 1% holds 40% of country’s wealth – study — RT India

https://www.rt.com/india/594620-india-wealth-distribution-study/

21 Mar, 2024 15:08

HomeIndia

India’s top 1% holds 40% of country’s wealth – study 

Wealth disparity in the world’s fastest-growing large economy is at its highest in decades, economists argue in a new research paper

India’s richest 1% of the population earned 22% of the country’s income and held 40% of its wealth during the last financial year, a new study published this week has suggested. These levels are “historically high” for India and even above those of developed economies such as the US, the paper notes. 

The research paper, co-authored by economists Kumar Bharti, Lucas Chancel, Thomas Piketty, and Anmol Somanchi, claims that wealth in India, the fastest-growing large economy globally, is largely concentrated among the richest 1% of the population, whom they refer to as India’s modern bourgeoisie. They claim that the wealth distribution in the country is now more unequal than during British colonial rule.   

“In 2022-23, 22.6% of national income went to just the top 1%, the highest level recorded in our series since 1922, higher than even during the inter-war colonial period. The top 1% wealth share stood at 40.1% in 2022-23, also at its highest level since 1961 when our wealth series begins,” the study says.  

Citing data from the Forbes billionaire rankings, the paper said the number of Indians with net wealth exceeding $1 billion increased from one in 1991 to 162 in 2022. Over this period, the total net wealth of these individuals as a share of India’s net national income surged from under 1% in 1991 to a whopping 25% in 2022. 

Read moreIndia to make dozens of cities ‘beggar free’

At present, India’s richest person, Mukesh Ambani, who is also the richest in Asia, has a net worth of $114 billion. He was recently in the news for hosting a lavish wedding for his son that was attended by dozens of international celebrities, including Bill Gates, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Blackrock co-founder Larry Fink, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Ivanka Trump, and others.  

Despite the reported disparities in income, the Indian economy is growing robustly and is poised to become the third largest in the world within the next three years. The country’s GDP grew 8.4% between October and December 2023, the fastest pace of increase in six quarters. 

The country’s central bank, in its latest bulletin, noted that India can maintain its 8% GDP growth given the favorable macroeconomic environment.  

Meanwhile, the federal government has introduced initiatives in an attempt to improve the quality of lives for those considered “poor.” In January, 30 cities were identified to be made “free of beggary” by 2026 as part of the Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprises scheme. New Delhi is also setting up a high-powered committee to consider the challenges arising from “fast population growth and demographic changes.” 

READ MORE: India’s economy is poised to grow rapidly. Will reality match expectations?

In 2023, a report on poverty by the government advisory body NITI Aayog said the country had lifted 135 million Indians out of poverty in the previous five years. According to a UNDP report published last year, multidimensional poverty fell from 25 to 15% between 2015-16 and 2019-21.

Calls to scrap Victoria’s $2 billion Venture Capital fund ‘Breakthrough Victoria’ as state faces skyrocketing debt – ABC News

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-19/breakthrough-victoria-bad-investments-no-transparency/103605338

[Manningham councillor and shareholder activist] Stephen Mayne is concerned there is a lack of transparency.

“You’re spending taxpayers’ money. If you have to do it in a way where it’s got to be secretive and you don’t have the normal scrutiny of FOI or transparency with details of your actual specific investments, I don’t think the government should be in that space.”…

The impact of the Depression on Germany – Hitler into power, 1929-1934 – Eduqas – GCSE History Revision – Eduqas – BBC Bitesize

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zpvhk7h/revision/1

…In Europe, Germany was worst affected because American banks called in all of their foreign loans at very short notice… Without these loans German industry collapsed and a depression began:…

Modern Monetary Theory: How MMT is challenging the economic establishment – ABC News

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-17/what-is-modern-monetary-theory/12455806

Comment by tonytran2015: Asian countries have been using for more than 2000 years the system of working few months for the government or paying taxes instead. This idea by MMT is not new (Your fiat money (Part 2), posted on January 12, 2017).

“To get us to produce things for the state, the government invents taxes or other kinds of payment obligations.”

How the US Regime Subsidizes Immigration—both Legal and Illegal, by Ryan McMaken | STRAIGHT LINE LOGIC

https://straightlinelogic.com/2024/02/20/how-the-us-regime-subsidizes-immigration-both-legal-and-illegal-by-ryan-mcmaken/

The sums are huge. From Ryan McMaken at mises.org:

n recent months, stories from both the legacy media and the independent media have continued to pile up on how undocumented foreign nationals—also known as “migrants” and “illegal aliens”—are able to take advantage of a vast network of taxpayer funded benefits in daycare, medical care, housing, and more. 

For example, both the New York Post and Denver Post report that these foreign nationals have “overwhelmed” the Denver Health hospital system in Denver, and that the situation is “unsustainable.” Meanwhile,…

Debt crisis again provokes “deprivation and misery” in Global South | Unwrapping Development

https://unwrappingdevelopment.ca/2023/07/24/debt-crisis-again-provokes-deprivation-and-misery-in-global-south/

UNCTAD reports that 3.3 billion people live in countries were interest payments on debts are greater than spending for education and health care. An editorial in Mexico City’s La Jornada daily newspaper recalled thatUN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has denounced this injustice as “systemic failure.”…

Why the RBA may be forced to cut interest rates before the Fed – ABC News

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-16/why-the-rba-may-be-forced-to-cut-before-the-fed/103475742

Due to that rapid pass-through of surging interest rates, higher inflation over recent months than seen in the US but with lower wage rises, and the effects of bracket creep that have pushed average income tax rates up to record levels, Australian households have seen a dramatic fall in their real living standards. Americans haven’t….

The US Is Living On Borrowed Time, by Matthew Piepenburg | STRAIGHT LINE LOGIC

https://straightlinelogic.com/2024/02/01/the-us-is-living-on-borrowed-time-by-matthew-piepenburg/

Those who live on borrowed money live on borrowed time. From Matthew Piepenburg at vongreyerzgold.com:

In late December, I published a final report on the themes of 2023 while looking ahead at their implications for the year to come.

I repeated my claim that debt markets and debt levels made the future of Fed policies, currency moves, rate markets and gold’s endgame fairly clear to see.

Of course, as facts change, opinions change as well.

But the facts are only worsening, which means my opinions in late 2023 are only growing stronger as we conclude the first month of 2024.

Then as now, the debt-soaked US is tilting ever more toward policies which will weaken its currency, wound its middleclass and reward its false idols (and false markets) with even greater desperation…