Suppose the Treasury sells $10 billion worth of securities to the Social Security Administration and $15 billion to the general public.This sale added ________ billion to gross public debt and ________ billion to the debt held by the public.

Question

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The gross public debt is the total amount of debt outstanding at any given time. Debt held by the public is the portion of the gross public debt that is held outside of government accounts, such as the Social Security Administration.

In this case, the Treasury sold $10 billion worth of securities to the Social Security Administration, which is held in government accounts and does not add to the debt held by the public. Therefore, the sale added $15 billion to the gross public debt ($10 billion + $15 billion = $25 billion) and $15 billion to the debt held by the public.

Suppose the Treasury Sells $10 Billion Worth of Securities to the Social