this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2026
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Microblog Memes

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A place to share screenshots of Microblog posts, whether from Mastodon, tumblr, ~~Twitter~~ X, KBin, Threads or elsewhere.

Created as an evolution of White People Twitter and other tweet-capture subreddits.

RULES:

  1. Your post must be a screen capture of a microblog-type post that includes the UI of the site it came from, preferably also including the avatar and username of the original poster. Including relevant comments made to the original post is encouraged.
  2. Your post, included comments, or your title/comment should include some kind of commentary or remark on the subject of the screen capture. Your title must include at least one word relevant to your post.
  3. You are encouraged to provide a link back to the source of your screen capture in the body of your post.
  4. Current politics and news are allowed, but discouraged. There MUST be some kind of human commentary/reaction included (either by the original poster or you). Just news articles or headlines will be deleted.
  5. Doctored posts/images and AI are allowed, but discouraged. You MUST indicate this in your post (even if you didn't originally know). If an image is found to be fabricated or edited in any way and it is not properly labeled, it will be deleted.
  6. Absolutely no NSFL content.
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[–] dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/RS22331

As of 2024, 70% of debt is owed domestically, i.e. bonds are owned primarily by people within the US. Only 30% of US debt is owned by foreign interests.

Foreign debt is mostly owned by Japan:

  1. Japan, $1,061 billion, 12.4% of foreign debt
  2. China, $759 billion, 8.87%
  3. United Kingdom, $722 billion, 8.44%

It's only when you group together all "European countries" that they collectively hold the most debt.

Here's a more updated figure from 2025:

https://www.pgpf.org/article/the-federal-government-has-borrowed-trillions-but-who-owns-all-that-debt/

It seems like a trend right now is that China is divesting from the US:

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3340164/china-dumps-more-us-debt-buys-other-assets-trump-targets-powell

Beijing’s stockpile fell to US$682.6 billion in November, down from US$688.7 billion in October, according to US Treasury Department data released on Thursday.

That marks the lowest level since September 2008 and a nearly 10 per cent drop since last January, according to financial data provider Wind.

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The idea behind grouping them is that all those "european countries" can act as one through EU coordination. So it makes no sense to separate them when talking about negotiating power.

[–] dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 month ago

https://fortune.com/2026/01/18/europe-retaliation-8-trillion-sell-america-us-debt-bonds-stocks-trade-war-greenland-trump/

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260120-bessent-says-europe-dumping-us-debt-over-greenland-would-defy-logic

It doesn't miss me that this is the desire or intent of this communication, I guess for me it raises all kinds of questions like:

  • are all the European countries collectively holding that $8 trillion figure in the EU?
  • what ability does the EU have to actually determine the debts that EU member states take on?
  • what alternative to US bonds does the EU have for stable liquid assets?

That said, I support the EU on this - I hope they figure it out!