Overseas Lending In The U.S.

 
An article in the Bloomberg News March 6, 2007 about overseas lending in U.S. by Kim Kyoungwha stated that most of the South Korean money flowing overseas was to the U.S.  South Koreans spent $780 million on real estate abroad in 2006, an increase of 34 times than the previous year, and almost half of it was in the United States.  According to their central bank, most people invested in houses, rather than commercial property.
This surge followed relaxation in May of controls imposed during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis.  The amount that Koreans could spend on overseas investment properties, according to the Finance Ministry, actually tripled the past year, to $3 million.  This will lead to a tremendous growth in overseas property investment. In 2006, South Korean buyers invested 48% of their money into the United States, according to the central bank.
In 2000, the U.S. Government had a surplus (profit) of about $237 billion (the largest in U.S. history). In 2006, the budget deficit was about $390 billion (loss).

Although the 2006 budget deficit (loss) was only about 3% of GDP, the problem is the accumulation of losses and the need for debt to finance the deficit. By the end of 2006 , the accumulated national debt was about $8.3 trillion (the largest in U.S. history!). The U.S. Government has borrowed that money to pay for tax breaks, new Medicare drug benefits, the war in Iraq and other policies.

The  U.S. government has to pay interest on its national debt, spending $406 billion in 2006 to pay it.  About 45% of the U.S. public debt was owed to foreign holding in 2006, up from 40% in 2005.  China, Japan, Saudi Arabia and oil exporters are some of the largest creditors.
 
In 2006, $13.6 trillion in U.S. stocks, bonds, real estate, businesses and other assets were held by overseas investors.  They bought US government and corporate bonds and mortgage-backed securities. 
The Commerce Department reported that the US paid more to foreign creditors for the first time in more than 90 years, than it took in from its overseas investments.