Interest payments or kick-backs? US provides foreign aid to countries who buy US debt

Really now… what else could it be? Certainly the United States is the undisputed champion when it comes to providing foreign aid to countries in need, but if those countries have the resources to lend the United States a few million here or a few million there, why is this exchange happening?

I’ll admit I’m not familiar with international finance decisions when it comes to buying and selling a countries debt. Maybe I’m looking at this in a simplistic matter? China has purchased about $1.1 trillion in US debt to invest in our capitalist way of life. Of course, we’re already paying interest on that money on a regular basis, so why provide them with $27.2 million in foreign aid?

From FoxNews.com

The Congressional Research Service released a report last month, a copy of which Fox News exclusively obtained, showing that in fiscal year 2010, the latest year that data was available, the U.S. handed out a total of $1.4 billion to 16 foreign countries that held at least $10 billion in Treasury securities, including China ($27.2 million), Brazil ($25 million), Russia ($71.5 million), India ($126.6 million), Mexico ($316.7 million) and Egypt ($255.7 million).

China is the largest holder of U.S. Treasury bonds with $1.1 trillion as of March, according to the Treasury Department. Brazil held $193.5 billion, Russia had $127.8 billion, India owned $39.8 billion, Mexico held $28.1 billion and Egypt had $15.3 billion.

Here is the full report.

CRS Report_Aid to Securities Holders

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Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

13 Comments

  1. TomL on June 3, 2011 at 6:33 pm

    All it is is a paperwork fee for doing the mortgage. The mortgaging of our grandkids future.?I thought the Dodd/Fwanks financial bill outlawed those fee’s or at least put a cap on them.



  2. Dimsdale on June 3, 2011 at 8:54 pm

    I bet the foreign aid goes right to the leaders of said countries.? It is grease money.? Giving money to China is like paying someone to steal your car.? And your house.



  3. johnboy111 on June 3, 2011 at 9:19 pm

    is there no end to the ways they can *iss away our money??it’s time to starve the beast[do your part?]



  4. sammy22 on June 3, 2011 at 11:01 pm

    My head hurts trying to make sense of what is being implied here. Aren’t Treasury securities? sold at auction? What do they have to do w/ foreign aid?



  5. Dimsdale on June 4, 2011 at 1:44 pm

    As I see it, sammy, we are paying out foreign aid to countries that can afford to buy our bonds, while we can’t afford not to sell them because the pols refuse to cut spending.? In other words, the money dike has more holes than we have fingers to plug them!
    ?
    It is time to stanch the bleeding.? Well, hemorrhaging, really.
    ?
    ?



  6. sammy22 on June 4, 2011 at 5:41 pm

    My head still hurts: why not simply say that we should stop giving foreign aid and leave it at that.



  7. Plainvillian on June 4, 2011 at 6:22 pm

    It must a sign of the end times:? sammy22 has posted a common sense statement with which I agree.? Will wonders never cease?



  8. sammy22 on June 5, 2011 at 9:51 pm

    So if China has bought 10% of the US debt, who is holding the other 90%?



  9. ricbee on June 5, 2011 at 11:17 pm

    Foreign Aid to Russia? And China,even that small amount?? But the others I’m guessing that’s where they hold it until actual use. But I’m only guessing. Did you see how much we give to Nigeria? You know that stolen from the getgo. It’s time to cut back on aid to Israel & Pakistan too.



  10. Dimsdale on June 6, 2011 at 10:14 am

    I think you and I are holding the bag on the remainder of the debt, sammy.? Or our children and grandchildren, to be more precise.



  11. Tim-in-Alabama on June 6, 2011 at 11:02 am

    I think these “aid” programs exist independently of any debt issues. Someone comes up with a “great idea” and finagles funding for it, and it never goes away. I’d just about bet most of these programs are run by former government officials who found a way to make a buck off their contacts. However, Good Governance training might keep a leaders from attacking their people with tanks. Bill Clinton and Janet Reno could have benefitted from such a program.



  12. Shared Sacrifice on June 6, 2011 at 8:33 pm

    Could it be a money laundering scheme?? Sixty percent of aid returns as contributions to the DNC with a lesser cut to the GOP??? I know a lot of aid is given as military hardware, so the money never actually leaves our shores; but you’re paying for this while a select few in the military industrial complex are getting rich…? Of course, we’ll need more of that money here in CT because we’ve got a revenue problem- somehow, not a spending problem…



  13. Lynn on June 7, 2011 at 7:16 am

    PV, I’m with you. Maybe when Sammy’s head hurts, he makes sense.



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