So... Exactly Whose Economy Gets Stimulated?

Transcript of comments during the Florida Republican Debate, January 24, 2007

Mike Huckabee: "But let me speak to the really heart of what I think a lot of Americans are concerned about with the economy and, frankly, in talking about the stimulus package.

"One of the concerns that I have is that we'll probably end up borrowing this $150 billion from the Chinese and when we get those rebate checks, most people are going to go out and buy stuff that's been imported from China.

"I have to wonder whose economy is going to be stimulated the most by the package."

--The Anecdotal Economist says: China now owns more than $380 billion of US Treasury obligations, and foreign interests control about 45% of the current $5.2 trillion of publicly held national debt, up from 30% in January 2001 ($2.34 trillion as of 11/2007 vs. $1.01 trillion as of 01/2001). See Major Foreign Holdings of US Public Debt.

US national debt now exceeds $9.2 trillion, up from $920 billion in January 1981 when President Jimmy Carter left office, up tenfold in a generation, including $3.5 trillion in new national debt in only seven years since January 2001, plus another likely $600 billion before President George Bush leaves office in 2009. How can anyone believe such a trend is sustainable? Are we now a "Blanche DuBois" nation: "dependent upon the kindness of strangers" to keep our consumer economy, and our empire, afloat?

Daily calculation of US national debt, see U.S Treasury Debt to the Penny at Treasury Direct.