YOU DO!
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) claims that 73.7 percent of the National Debt is held by the American public.
When the CBO lists the portion that the federal government holds you will find that a great deal of this also belongs on the public side of the pie. Here's the list of what the CBO calls the federal government's portion of the National Debt:
Notice that the Social Security Trust Fund is more than one-half trillion dollars, all from monies paid by the working public and employers.
The independent (not politically involved or vested interest) large investors, retirement account systems, and insurance firms seem to be devoting less and less of their portfolios to government Treasury paper (bonds, bills, notes, and so forth). After all, these financial wizards see what's happening and how many of them would stay with AT&T if that company's board of directors began talking about possible bankruptcy (default)?
To maintain its "borrowing" strategies, the federal government must then turn more and more to the working middle class market. Witness the increase of ads for retirement accounts, 401(k)s, and such appearing on television and mailings, even with themes telling the average man he must get more involved with his own retirement plans. Could the false "fright" of Social Security collapse be part of this same sales campaign? Social Security has always adjusted its needs and has always produced a yearly "excess" of funds. In 1996 the excess was $69 billion, all invested in Treasury paper. Look at the size of their trust fund.
Committees assigned to study the Social Security system have all reported its good health and stability. But they have also recommended that the system be "privatized" or allowed to invest in the stock market.
With limited research, we have noticed a pattern of the smaller retirement accounts depending heaviest on Treasury paper. For instance, the local police, firemen, and small companies will often be vested to the hilt with retirement systems having as much as seventy and eighty percent of their funds in Treasury paper. This does not surprise us since these entities often elect their own board of retirement managers, often from their own ranks, and have always been led to believe that the government was the "safest" place to put money. While the interest rate is amongst the lowest available, it has always been considered to be at least a safe place to invest..
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