by rangerone314 » Thu 19 Nov 2009, 14:55:25
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Falconoffury', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Gerben', 'J')apan is close to the tipping point where they can no longer sell their bonds. The US is already past it, but so far markets have ignored it because they believe the US will recover from it.
To foreigners, perhaps. To the country's own central bank, not necessarily. The central bank can print up whatever money it wants to buy as many bonds as the government wants to issue. Granted, this can destroy economies through inflation, but it should allow a government to keep paying its debts. Bonds sold to foreigners are denominated in the issuing country's currency, not the foreign currency. The government can devalue its own bonds through inflation to continue paying for them. I don't think Zimbabwe even issues bonds to anyone. They just print the money and spend it. I don't see how they can have that much inflation otherwise.
The USA still has a strong foreign market for its bonds, so the Federal Reserve doesn't have to buy any right now. If that demand weakens too much, then the USA may be forced to raise taxes and sell bonds to the Fed in order to raise cash.