The U.S. Owes China $1.2 Trillion : Planet Money : NPR

The U.S. Owes China $1.2 Trillion : Planet Money : NPR

with a national debt of some 14 trillion dollars a lot of people think we own it all to the Chinese. Not so. Only about 4.5 trillion is owed to foreign entities. Where is the rest of it? Well, for starters, 2.5 trillion is owed to Social Security. Even at that we've only accounted for about 1/2.