• finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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    8 hours ago

    Yes but the banks are a part of the US Financial System and Governance. For better or worse, the Federal Reserve System is tiered in a way that each private bank adheres to their regional reserve bank, of which there are 12 total, which adheres to the US federal reserve board. The private banks can also elect representatives to the board of their own regional reserve bank, while the federal reserve board members are appointed by presidents.

    That’s not even mentioning the FOMC.

    But the debt is still of the USA to the USA at the end of the day. If third parties like China or Russia buy bonds from those of the USA who hold the value in the form of promissory then that’s fine but they have no power to enforce a payout in case of a “default”. The notes just lose a little value, to the holder’s detriment.

    • pulsewidth@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      Your whole first paragraph is irrelevant. The banks that the US owes are part of the US banking system. Ok so?

      This is another misrepresentation. You think it’s no big deal if treasury bills “lose a little value”?

      If treasury bills lose value, that will begin a mass sell-off, which will cause the US dollar value to plummet. If there was a default, the US would lose its credit rating and not be able to get future loans. That would grind your government and industries to a halt.

      Back on the initial point, foreign counties currently own almost a third of the US national debt, it is not “debt of the USA to the USA” - many of the additonal institutions (beyond the 1/3rd) that hold the debt (banks and investment groups) are also either foreign or international and not headquartered in the US.

      In summary, the national debt is loans owed to many groups, a very large portion of which are foreign to the US. “They aren’t actually borrowing from anybody” is wildly inaccurate.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_of_the_United_States#Holders_of_debt

      • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        Lmfao yeah ok pal, the banks are going to start denying the federal government loans. Yeah right. I bet the Fed won’t even use their authority to set bank interest rates as a response, will they? Or maybe all the banks will just stop giving out all loans forever? What a crock of shit.