You're paying the rich to save

 If all the world's countries are in debt and that's pretty much true, then who do they owe the money to? That's a question that I heard asked recently on the radio, and the commentators on the programming question did not know the answer. So let me explain. There is roughly $100 trillion of national debt in the world at present. Now I say roughly because this figure is changing all the time and the data is a little outta date. So take every number that I give in this video with a pinch of salt because most will be 2023 or 2024 data. And of course we're now in 2025. But give or take, the USA is the world's biggest debtor by a long way in a total debt in 20 23, 32 0.9 trillion, but which we now know is heading for something like 36 trillion. So roughly. One third of all the national debt in the world is owed by the USA. I've made other videos on this subject pointing out that actually the world can't survive without the USA owing that debt because the money in question is the dollar, of course, and that is the world's reserve currency. And so is that debt really debt? It's a good question, but it still leaves well over 60 trillion of other debt in the world. China is the next biggest debtor. It owes over $15 trillion. Japan owes around $11 trillion. In comparison, the UK comes in a very low fourth and only a bit over $3 trillion, roughly the same as France, a bit ahead of Italy, somewhat above India, above Germany, and then Canada and Brazil and those countries between them, make up the top 10 at present. There are, however, a vast number of other countries with debt. In fact, almost every country in the world, except its 10 or so failed states have got data that show that they are in debt. Being in debt is something that countries do as a matter of course, which is quite interesting in its own right, because why then do we obsess about the fact that national debt is such a bad thing when every country is in debt? Well, of course the answer is very simple and it's very straightforward. The national debt of a country represents the currency that it has effectively put into circulation in its jurisdiction, in its own domain, in its own legal tender, in a way that is essential if its local economy is to work, and therefore national debt is nothing more than the world money supply. But who owns this supposed debt? That's the question that was asked, and that's the question that needs answering. So I've had a look at this and I'm quite surprised to find the answers. First of all, I expected a very high part of that national debt to be owned by other countries. So for example, in the case of the USA, I expected to find that a significant proportion of the total value of US national debt would be owned. By the central banks of other countries, but in fact, only one eighth of the national debt, a bit over $4 trillion. In the case of the USA is actually owned by foreign governments. It would see the rest is in private circulation. In the case of the uk the figure in question appears to be one sixth of our total national debt is owned by foreign governments. In the case of France, it's a bit higher than that. The situation is confused there by the existence of the European Central Bank, but the figure might be creeping a bit above 20%, and that also appears to be the case in Germany. In Japan, one of the biggest detonations in the world, there is almost no overseas ownership of the debt because whilst it's dead is massive in proportion to the country's gross domestic product at well over 200%, which puts it completely outta proportion with. Any other developed economy, almost all of it is domestically owned, either by the Japanese national government itself or by private individuals. The point is very simple though, and it is quite straightforward. There is a massive amount of debt, which is in private ownership, give or take. More than 80% of the world's debt is likely to be owned privately. If that's the case, who are these private owners? Well, you might be one of them. I probably am as well. And the reason why is you probably have a pension arrangement of some sort, as do I. And pension funds are major holders of national debt in the uk. A bit under 30% of all the UK's national debt is owned by pension companies and life assurance companies. They need it. To fund their operations because the UK government is the only person in the UK who is guaranteed to never go bust and who will always pay their debts in the pounds that the government alone can create. And therefore, pension companies who make very long-term promises to people like me who might live a long time on the pension that they've earned, need that assurance to guarantee that they can fulfill the promise that they've made. And this is true right around the world. In the USA vast quantities of the US national debt is owned by pension funds, and that's true in Europe as well. So the point is that this money, this national debt, about which the world...