Where does stimulus money come from?

[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/02/24/art.fed.meeting.jpg caption="The government can't count on the Federal Reserve to soak up $300 billion of Treasurys." width=300 height=169]

Colin Barr
Senior writer

It's no secret that the government is borrowing huge sums of money. What may surprise you is how much of it is coming from the United States.

Rising domestic demand for U.S. debt allowed the government to sell more than $1.7 trillion of Treasurys during fiscal 2009. Those sales paid for billions of dollars of stimulus spending, without drawing unusually large contributions from overseas creditors such as China or triggering a long-feared interest rate spike.

The big question is whether the feds can pull off that trick again in 2010.

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