The Hill News

Americans today are surrounded by a cloud of confusing numbers on the economy and the federal budget. But what do the numbers really mean? What do they describe? How are they related to the debt ceiling crisis? Below are some of the more frequently mentioned figures â€" from the astronomical to the pedestrian â€" and a brief explanation of their background and ramifications.

$4.5 trillion: The total value of Treasury bonds held by China, Japan, Brazil, Iran and other nations. As economists Stephen Moore and David Malpass have pointed out, this is money that foreigners are not investing in the next Google, Oracle, Wal Mart or bio-medical company here in the U.S. Instead, this investment is financing Medicaid, unemployment insurance, and other federal government programs.

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