THE U.S. government is like a homeowner struggling with an adjustable-rate mortgage, several analysts have recently said.

Millions of Americans defaulted on adjustable-rate mortgages in the past two years. Their interest rates were adjusted upward, and they could no longer afford the payments.

How could that happen to the whole United States?

The nation pays more than $400 billion a year in interest on a $9.13 trillion national debt. Seven years ago, when President Bush took office, that debt was $5.7 trillion.

To pay the interest and also run the country and the war, this administration cuts programs that help people at home and sells more treasury bills and bonds.

But if the economy slides into recession and interest rates drop - as many economists predict - the government must still pay the same amount of promised interest on $2.4 trillion in outstanding treasury securities.

This is very shaky ground. More than 77 percent of Americans told the Gallup poll the economy is getting worse. In a recent Ipsos/Associated Press poll, a full 42 percent of Americans surveyed told the AP that they have "no confidence at all" that President Bush can reverse the country's economic slide.

America's debt has another serious dimension. Foreign governments own about 25 percent of that $9.13 trillion IOU.

Fifty-two percent of the national debt is held by the federal government itself - the Social Security Trust Fund, for example. The rest are publicly held securities, including treasury bonds and bills.

Millions of Americans defaulted on adjustable-rate mortgages in the past two years. Their interest rates were adjusted upward, and they could no longer afford the payments.

How could that happen to the whole United States?

The nation pays more than $400 billion a year in interest on a $9.13 trillion national debt. Seven years ago, when President Bush took office, that debt was $5.7 trillion.

To pay the interest and also run the country and the war, this administration cuts programs that help people at home and sells more treasury bills and bonds.

But if the economy slides into recession and interest rates drop - as many economists predict - the government must still pay the same amount of promised interest on $2.4 trillion in outstanding treasury securities.

This is very shaky ground. More than 77 percent of Americans told the Gallup poll the economy is getting worse. In a recent Ipsos/Associated Press poll, a full 42 percent of Americans surveyed told the AP that they have "no confidence at all" that President Bush can reverse the country's economic slide.

America's debt has another serious dimension. Foreign governments own about 25 percent of that $9.13 trillion IOU.

Fifty-two percent of the national debt is held by the federal government itself - the Social Security Trust Fund, for example. The rest are publicly held securities, including treasury bonds and bills.

Foreign governments now own 44 percent of the publicly held portion, according to the U.S. Treasury. Foreign governments also own a sizeable amount of agency and corporate securities.

As of Dec. 31, Japan owned $571.2 billion in U.S. Treasury Securities alone, according to the Federal Reserve Board. Mainland China owned $405.5 billion. Great Britain owned another $300 billion.

Oil-exporting countries owned another $127 billion. 

As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Solvency is maintained by means of a national debt, on the principle, 'If you will not lend me the money, how can I pay you?'"

Is this a problem? Not so long as the United States can pay the interest on its debt, analysts say. But the interest due keeps growing. In fiscal year 2006, total interest payments added up to $406 billion, according to the Treasury.

"The first day the Chinese or the Japanese or the Saudies say, 'We've bought enough of your paper,' then the debt - whatever level it is at that point - becomes unmanageable," Stanley Collender, a former Congressional budget analyst, told USA Today.

Owning someone's debt is a form of power. Just as some poor American about to lose his house is in no position to bargain with the bank, the Bush administration's mealy-mouthed response to the flow of dangerous Chinese toys and pet food into American homes may well have its roots in this power relationship.

As Sen. Hillary Clinton quipped: "How do you get tough on your banker?"

America's alarming dependence on borrowed money is a serious security concern, and a top priority for the next president and Congress to address.