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State of the Middle Class

U.S. Economy

NIIP by Country (Billions of USD)

Nation20052010201520202022 Q3
Japan1,531.83,150.42,715.23,422.13,171.9
Germany356.5720.51,138.82,680.02,760.3
China356.81,478.31,698.92,286.82,364.0
Canada-154.6-303.0323.2744.7449.3
South Korea-143.9-132.7204.5487.2746.6
Greece-177.9-298.8-261.3-352.8-290.5
United States-1,857.9-2,511.1-7,590.5-14,707.4-16,710.8

Major Foreign Holders of US Treasury Securities (March 2023)

CountryAmount
Japan$1,087.7
China$869.3
UK$714.0
Belgium$336.5
Luxembourg$328.6
Switzerland$305.4
Cayman Islands$288.5
Ireland$253.0
Taiwan$239.5
Brazil$224.4
France$184.4
Foreign holdings include government and private holdings.

Ratio of National Debt to GDP by Nation

Nation1976199820202022
China---21.3%68.1%76.9%
Germany---59.5%68.7%66.3%
United States35.2%61.3%106.7%121.1%
- As of 2022, foreign powers hold a total of $7.32 trillion, or 24%, of the U.S. federal debt.
- The Federal Reserve and the government own about $10 trillion of the U.S. federal debt
- China and Japan alone hold over $2 trillion in treasury securities 

Ratio of Deficit to GDP for the United States over Time

YearFederal Surplus / Deficit as % of GDP
19600.06%
1970-0.26%
1980-2.58%
1990-3.71%
20002.31%
2010-8.60%
2020-14.87%
2022-5.40%
The United States has not run a federal spending surplus since 2001.

Per Capita Net Foreign Wealth (NIIP) by Country

Country20052010201520202022 Q4
Japan$11,971.83$24,590.16$21,400.47$29,173.29$25,483.74
Germany$4,365.22$10,760.58$18,729.34$34,478.62$34,784.36
China$263.00$1,081.23$1,187.05$1,493.76$1,794.56
Canada-$4,352.61-$8,823.53$8,893.59$23,151.80$16,148.61
South Korea-$2,905.77-$2,623.61$3,920.80$10,621.86$14,877.81
Greece-$16,378.53-$26,978.42-$24,029.57-$32,649.25-$29,758.35
United States-$6,294.42-$8,115.10-$23,261.62-$42,185.13-$47,776.66
- Note: NIIP equals the amount of assets held by one country versus another. 
- Per each U.S. citizen, the world owns $47,776.66 more in U.S. assets than the U.S. owns in the rest of the world's assets.

Inflation Rate by Country

Year USA China Japan South Korea Taiwan 
March 20235.0%0.7%3.2%4.2%2.4%
February 20236.0%1.0%3.3%4.8%2.4%
January 20236.4%2.1%4.3%5.2%3.0%
  • Source: Bloomberg
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Blue Collar Dollar Institute

The Blue Collar Dollar Institute believes that the United States cannot offer a middle-class lifestyle to a large majority of Americans without possessing a strong and vibrant manufacturing sector.  Our non-partisan mission is to research data, inform the public, and advocate for policy in order to help strengthen US manufacturing and goods-producing sectors. 

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Ratio of Debt to GDP by nation

This figure is found by dividing a nation’s total debt by the real GDP at that period. Total debt is comprised of intragovernmental debt and debt held by the public. When a foreign nation owns part of another nation’s debt (for the U.S., this would be a nation buying Treasury bonds), this constitutes an increase in public debt.

Net International Investment Positions

According to Investopedia, net international investment position (NIIP) measures the gap between a nation’s stock of foreign assets and a foreigner’s stock of that nation’s assets. It is easiest to view this statistic as a sort of balance sheet for a nation. A negative NIIP figure indicates that foreign nations own more of the domestic nation’s assets than the domestic nation does of foreign assets. This makes the U.S. a net debtor nation.