Foreign Ownership of U.S. Assets Greater Than 2005 GDP

Foreign investors own $13.6 trillion of U.S. assets, including Treasury bonds, stocks and real estate. That is exactly 109% of the total GDP for 2005. In other words, if foreign entities called in their loans and sold all their assets, it would take over a year for the U.S. economy to generate enough revenue to buy it all back.

This is according to a July 26, 2007 report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in response to a request from the Budget Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. Congress is concerned about the impact on the U.S. economy of the largest current account deficit in the history of the world.

What It Means

To pay off this debt, the U.S. dollar will probably decline. Some say quickly, but the CBO says it will decline slowly. This will gradually reduce the U.S. standard of living. Read more about the CBO's predictions, and what it means for you, in CBO Report on the Current Account Deficit.

Related Articles

• U.S. Current Account Deficit -- Threat or Way of Life?
• Dollar Decline or Dollar Crash?
• The U.S. Debt and How It Got So Large