The following table contains approximate figures for grossdomestic product (GDP) and the national debt in the United Statesfor June 2001 and June 2010. The national debt represents the totalamount of money owed by the federal government to holders of U.S.securities. All numbers are in trillions of dollars.
| GDP | Total National Debt | Debt Held by | Debt Held Outside Fed. Govt. and Fed. Reserve |
|---|
(Trillions of Dollars) | (Trillions of Dollars) | Federal Government | Foreign Ownership (External National Debt) | U.S. Ownership (External National Debt) |
|---|
and Federal Reserve | (Trillions of Dollars) | (Trillions of Dollars) |
|---|
(Trillions of Dollars) |
|---|
| June 2001 | 10.1 | 5.7 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 1.7 |
| June 2010 | 14.5 | 13.2 | 4.6 | 4.0 | 4.6 |
Source: “U.S. Treasury, Bureau of Economic Analysis.”
Net public debt is the portion of the national debt that is heldoutside the federal government and the Federal Reserve System. InJune 2001, the net public debt as a percentage of total nationaldebt was __________.
In June 2001, the percentage of the U.S. national debt held byforeigners (external national debt) was ________ .
The fraction of the national debt held by foreigners willeventually need to be repaid to foreigners, thereby reducing thecollective purchasing power of Americans. Between 2001 and 2010,the fraction of the national debt held by foreigners __________.
The absolute level of the debt does not necessarily provide aclear indication of a nation's debt burden. Thus, economists oftenlook at relative measures of the national debt. One possiblerelative measure of the national debt is the federal debt held bythe public (outside the federal government and the Federal Reserve)as a percentage of GDP. In 2001, publicly held debt was _______ ofGDP. Between 2001 and 2010, publicly held debt as a percentage ofGDP _________ .
