Discourse of the Common Wealth of this Realm of England, 1549... "We must always take heed that we buy no more from strangers than we sell them, for so should we impoverish ourselves and enrich them." Others own 25% of us.... Is this enough to bring us down? http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OgqWVoQzvIc/T24wWv7zgQI/AAAAAAAAFH4/piJZ_pxUFMA/s1600/Revised-FY2011-who-owns-us-national-debt.png humm this must be trillion not billion. here is another... What is it? http://parkerfinancial.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/who-owns-our-federal-debt.png?w=480&h=320 This is chart... images.investorshub.advfn.com/images/uploads/2012/10/20/yrcesgdp.jpg