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Who Owns America?
The greatest democracy in the world, the land of the free, home of capitalism. These terms have all been used to describe the US.
However, who actually pulls the strings in this once dominant country, dare I say former empire?
Is it the politicians? Hardly, they are mere puppets for their backers that throw money at their campaigns. In a country where the legislature, law enforcement and court appointments are all politicised it’s no surprise that the highest bidder wins.
In that case, is it the corporation’s? Well considering the bath that shareholders have taken over the last couple of years the owners of these businesses whilst powerful are definitely not the only force. Well, what about the management of these companies? They are able to take advantage of the system and reap huge rewards for doing incredibly bad jobs. Whilst they have a good deal they are not those that control the buttons.
The answer to this question can be found in who the US owes. The US debt is around US$12.3 Trillion with about a 25-30% of this debt owed to foreign countries. China remained the biggest foreign holder of US Treasuries with US$790 billion. Japan, the second largest holder, has US$757 billion. The US therefore need to make huge annual payments of interest to foreigners every year. Debt in itself is not bad however when the long term trend is to keep living beyond your means this will eventually catch up. The Government Accountability Office in the US has forecast that based on the current and projected annual trade and budget deficits that by 2019 the US debt will be US$18.4 Trillion.
As with a mortgagee who cannot meet the loan repayments from their bank their house will be repossessed and sold. Is this a real possibility for the US economy? Whilst the US have blocked many attempts by foreigners to own their corporations and assets in the past, besides during the Global Financial Crisis when the money was met with open arms, the foreigners may end up owning it by stealth in due course anyway.
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