On the recordJuly 21, 2010
So what we have seen, according to what you're saying, is very clear. First of all, you've got the tremendous, tremendous level of spending, which is exactly the wrong thing. And what is happening with that tremendous level of spending, you're getting what you would expect, you're getting a lot of unemployment, and that's making it worse and worse. As you do that spending, of course, we have a question of who owns our debt. In 1970, the foreign debt holdings were 5 percent. It doesn't seem like 1970 was so long ago to me. In 1990, 20 years later, foreign holdings had gone from 5 to 19 percent. Now 2010, another 20 years later, total foreign debt is now 47 percent. Those are not numbers that make people who understand business and understand economics comfortable with where we are in this country.
