Quote Originally Posted by JakeMartinez
I thought most of the US debt was held by the federal reserve for our money supply.

Moreover, money that goes to the fed is theirs to keep so I don't see how taxpayers get paid more than a pittance out of the debt.
No, the Fed has in theory, an unlimited supply of money at their disposal. It is their purchasing of securities (US debt) that allows them to add to the reserves of member banks. Of course, this does allow them to potentially purchase guaranteed assets (USTC) if reserve deposits get re-appropriated on to the balance sheet.

It has to say something about the overall strength of the dollar relative to other currencies, because when things started to get tough, the entire world began purchasing dollars which has made my trip to Rotterdam much cheaper! Look at how the dollar has killed other currencies these past two months.