All content in this article is based on official and reliable sources, and the specific information is detailed at the end of the article
Preface
In 2023, the main theme of world finance is "debt".
According to relevant data, countries increased their debts by a total of $15 trillion last year, and the total amount has reached a staggering 313 trillion yuan, setting a new historical record.
Excessive debt is like a crumbling building, increasing the debt risk of countries.
And among these huge debts, the United States alone accounts for more than 30 trillion, Japan accounts for 8.6 trillion, and how much does China account for?
Source: Global Network-Wang Ning: Global debt is high, and unimpeded economic and trade is the fundamental countermeasure (2024.5.9)
U.S. debt hits record highs
According to the official website of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, in January this year, the cumulative U.S. debt reached $34 trillion, setting a new record.
Just four months ago, that figure stood at $33 trillion, and now the United States has been the world's largest debtor for ten consecutive years.
It seems that the U.S. government knows how to borrow money, but too much debt is not a good thing, and the U.S. is now overwhelmed by huge debts and has to raise the debt ceiling several times.
What exactly is the concept of 34 trillion debt? Let's put it this way, the United States now needs to pay one-third of the interest just to repay the interest on these debts.
It can be seen that the United States has not been able to repay its debts at all in recent years, and it can even be said that it is good to be able to control the total amount of debt and not rise again.
Moreover, the excessive debt has already caused the US government to face a shutdown crisis, and in November 2023, the US House of Representatives even introduced a temporary bill to avoid a government shutdown.
Regarding the current state of the US economy, some economists have made a sharp comment, claiming that the US authorities have led the country to a dead end.
Although judging from the current situation, the US government has tried to curb inflation on several occasions and even did not hesitate to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to operate, the situation has not improved, but has continued to deteriorate.
The secretary of the Russian president even personally calculated an account for the United States, saying that if the US government does nothing, it will have to repay an extra $200 million in interest within two hours, and if this continues, I am afraid that the paper used by the United States to print money and repay the money will not be enough.
Information source: Overseas Network - U.S. Treasury bonds broke through $34 trillion for the first time (2024.1.5)
The current state of the U.S. economy is galloping on the road of inflation, and in order to rein in the precipice in time, the U.S. federal government has come up with a policy of raising interest rates several times, but even so, the inflation momentum in the United States is still difficult to contain.
In the past March 2024, inflation in the United States once again exceeded expectations, and the consumer index rose by 3.5%, making the American people miserable.
In the street interviews of American reporters, it can be seen that some people have complained that it used to cost only $35 to add a tank of gas, but now it has risen to $45.
On top of that, one shopkeeper complained that his rent had risen from $1,400 a month to $1,800.
Source: China Youth Network - Inflation in the United States exceeded expectations in March, and people complained that prices were too high (2024.4.11)
What's more, the U.S. is sucking wealth from around the world by raising interest rates, and when interest rates will be cut is still unknown.
On May 7, the Fed publicly stated that the next move could be to cut interest rates, but this slogan has been shouted for a long time, but it has not been able to take action for a long time.
On May 10, the chairman of the Federal Reserve said again, claiming that the current inflation momentum is still fierce, and it is too early to consider cutting interest rates, and it seems that the United States is still likely to continue to raise interest rates in the next stage.
Source: The Paper-Fed officials "debate" endlessly: whether to cut interest rates, when to cut interest rates, and whether to raise interest rates (2024.5.11)
In addition to the high debt of the United States, Japan is also troubled.
Japan's debt is at its peak
Japan can be said to be more than the debt dilemma faced by the United States, and it is reported that in 2023, Japan's total debt will also reach 1286.452 trillion yen, which translates to about 8.6 trillion dollars.
Source: The Paper - Japan's total government debt exceeds 1,286 trillion yen, a record high (2024.2.9)
It would seem that this figure is a far cry from the 34 trillion in the United States.
But you must know that the economies of the two countries are not at the same level, and in the whole of 2023, Japan's GDP will only be about 4.2 trillion US dollars.
Debt has doubled the total GDP, which is worthy of Japan's highest debt ratio.
Source: Guangming.com - Nominal GDP will fall to the fourth place in the world in 2023, Japan reflects on it (2024.2.18)
At present, it is clear that Japan is facing greater debt pressure than the United States, which has been suffering greatly by raising interest rates to absorb wealth.
Recently, the yen has depreciated rapidly, and the exchange rate with the US dollar has fallen below 160:1 for the first time since 1990.
As an island country, Japan is poor in natural resources, and many things are dependent on imports, and the continuous decline of the yen will continue to impact the lives of the Japanese people, producing a steady stream of negative impacts.
Source: Beijing Daily Client-The yen fell "unlimited", why did the Japanese government intervene "limited"?(2024.4.29)
In order to save the yen from fire and water, the Bank of Japan really couldn't sit still, and twice took out 800 million yen to save the market by buying yen and selling dollars.
In the face of an interview with reporters afterwards, Fumio Kishida directly said that he would not comment, and it seems that he could not say anything about the United States' approach to harvesting the yen for a while.
Information source: Observer.com - The Bank of Japan may have invested 8 trillion yen to intervene in the foreign exchange market, Fumio Kishida refuses to comment (2024.5.3)
However, Japan is not idle, but chooses to issue additional government bonds in 2024 under the pressure of debt pressure, which is expected to be 20% more than in 2023.
However, the purpose of Japan's additional issuance of government bonds is outrageous, and it is actually applied to the building of Japan's Self-Defense Forces, which is, to put it bluntly, military spending.
I have to say that the Japanese government's operation this time is really out of bounds, from a historical point of view, every time Japan fights a war, it is through the issuance of a large number of bonds to obtain funds.
Since World War II, the money borrowed from Japanese government bonds should be used for self-defense, and Fumio Kishida has now broken this taboo.
Source: Guangming.com - "The Kishida government's approach has crossed the line" (2024.5.11)
But then again, if neither Japan nor the United States sets out to solve the problem of debt topping, sooner or later this big thunder will blow itself up.
China's national debt
According to the data released by the Ministry of Finance of the mainland on May 13, 2023, it can be seen that in 2023, the issuance of mainland government bonds will be divided into two parts: domestic and foreign.
Among them, the domestic is about 11.09 trillion yuan, and the foreign country is about 55.546 billion yuan, which adds up to 11.14 trillion yuan, which is a drop in the bucket compared with the 34 trillion yuan in the United States.
Source: Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China - 2023 and 2024 Central Government Treasury Bond Balance (2024.5.13)
So, where are the treasury bonds issued by the mainland used?
It has been learned that in the fourth quarter of last year, the mainland issued an additional 1 trillion yuan in government bonds, and this money was not used to repay debts like the United States, nor like Japan, but was actually used by the people.
The money borrowed from these national bonds is mainly used on the mainland for post-disaster reconstruction and disaster prevention and mitigation, in the hope of better protecting the lives and property of the masses.
In 2024, the mainland's national debt limit will be 35.2 trillion yuan, which is still not the same size as the United States, but this also shows that the mainland has the initiative and control in the sale of treasury bonds, and this is the performance of a responsible major country.
Source: China Business Daily - Trillion national bonds are spent on the "knife edge"! The Ministry of Finance released the latest data → (2024.4.24)
文 | ZYG
Edit | Canned green oranges
[Disclaimer] The process described in the article and the pictures are all from the Internet, and this article aims to advocate positive social energy without vulgarity and other bad guidance. If it involves copyright or character infringement issues, please contact us in time, and we will delete the content as soon as possible! If there is any doubt about the incident, it will be deleted or changed immediately after contact.