The debt of the United States (US) currently reaches US$28.4 trillion or around Rp. 404,000 trillion (exchange rate of Rp. 14,250/US$).
The amount of debt owed by the US has made this superpower again face the classic problem of debt limits.
US Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, asked the US Congress to raise the debt limit. He said if the limit was not raised then the US government would experience a shutdown or temporary closure due to running out of budget.
Not only shutdown, the US is also said to be threatened with default until the financial crisis. "If the debt limit isn't raised, sometime in October, it's hard to predict when the exact time will be, the Treasury's cash balance won't be sufficient, and the federal government won't be able to pay its bills," Yellen said. CNBC International, Saturday (25/9/2021).
He further said that if there was a default it would trigger a historic financial crisis. "Defaults can trigger sharp increases in interest rates, sharp declines in the stock market, and other financial turmoil," said Yellen.
style="text-align: justify;">Based on data from Statista, as of last August, the debt value of the United States was US$ 28.427 trillion, almost the same as the previous month, but down considerably from June's US$ 28.529 trillion.
Of this total debt, more than US$ 7 trillion of the United States owes to foreigners, one of the largest being China, which is often fought with feuds.
Based on data from the US Treasury Department, China had US$1.07 trillion worth of debt securities or bonds (treasury) at the end of last July. China is America's second-largest creditor.
In the first place, there is Japan which has US Treasuries worth the US $ 1.3 trillion. Japan became the largest holder of US Treasuries since mid-2019 and then beat China.
After the trade war between the United States and China flared up, the Chinese government tended to release treasury holdings, while Japan continued to grow. Then complete the top five US creditors, namely Britain, Ireland, and Switzerland.
Republicans refused to support the increase in the debt limit even though the US was threatened with a shutdown until the risk of default.
Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy said Democrats wanted to raise the debt limit to finance a multi-billion dollar project called the "Democrat wish list".
The shutdown has also happened many times. Before the issue of increasing the debt ceiling occurred in the era of the 45th US President, Donald Trump. At that time the United States government experienced a 35-day shutdown from December 2018 to January 2019.
align: justify;">As a result of this shutdown, as many as 300,000 government employees were laid off. This is the longest shutdown in US history.
Not only that, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was also cut. In the fourth quarter of 2018, GDP was cut by 0.1%, while in the first quarter of 2019 it was 0.2%, based on an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, as quoted by CNBC International.
One of the posts that drain the US state treasury is the defense sector. Last year, the US spent US$ 724.64 billion (Rp 10,321.77 trillion) for defense needs.
In the last five years, the average US defense budget has increased by 4.25% per year. This is higher than the average for the previous five years, which fell 3.16% annually.
Rebuttal of the Indonesian Representative at the United Nations
The Indonesian representative from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs conveyed his statement on Vanuatu's continued support for Papuan independence at the UN general assembly some time ago.
The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs represented by Sindy Nur Fitri, the Third Secretary at the PTRI New York, said Vanuatu had made false, baseless, and even false accusations related to Human Rights (HAM) which were said to have been violated in Papua.
"Vanuatu is trying to impress the world with its so-called concern for human rights issues," said Sindy when she read her statement and uploaded it to MoFa's YouTube account, Sunday. Vanuatu seems to turn a blind eye to acts of terror carried out by armed criminal groups (KKB) in Papua which violate human rights.
"Vanuatu deliberately turned a blind eye when this armed separatist criminal group killed nurses, health workers, teachers, construction workers, and law enforcement officers," he said.
Those who were killed and tortured were people who were truly dedicated to the Papuan people. Not only that, the KKB has also damaged several public facilities that were deliberately built by the government for the welfare of the Papuan people.
"When teachers are mercilessly killed, why did Vanuatu choose to remain silent? When public facilities built for the people in Papua were destroyed, why did Vanuatu once again choose to remain silent," he explained.
