re: #167 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Just wait until China comes a callin’ WRT their stake in our national debt.

Game. Set. Match.

China and Japan together hold $2.3 trillion in US Treasury instruments (bills, bonds and notes). Each one has a specific maturity date, and a holder of one cannot demand immediate payment. They are not loans, in the sense that China and Japan offered to lend the USA money and can demand full payment at any time. Instead, they are instruments offered by the USA to anyone who wants to buy them and earn a fixed interest rate during the life of the bill, bond or note. Treasuries are traded on international markets, so ownership of a particular instrument can change hands over its life.

OTOH, if the USA were ever unable to make those interest payments, there would be hell to pay. We came dangerously close when Ted Cruz shut down the government a few years back.