The Global Bond Bubble: Who Will Buy $29 Trillion? – (Part 1)
Governments around the world are trying to borrow $29 trillion dollars in 2026 alone. That’s not total debt — that’s just what needs to be raised this year. And the buyers who used to show up automatically — central banks, foreign governments — are quietly walking away.
In Part 1 of this two-part deep dive, we break down exactly who is disappearing from the world’s $109 trillion bond market, and who’s being forced to take their place.
In this video:
Why $29 trillion needs to be borrowed in 2026 — and where most of it is actually going
How central banks (the Fed, BoE, BoJ) flipped from buying bonds to selling them
Why China’s U.S. Treasury holdings just hit an 18-year low
How Wall Street’s “shock absorbers” (primary dealers) got regulated into irrelevance
Who the new dominant buyers are — and why they’re far pickier than the old ones
This is Part 1 of 2. Part 2 covers the “sovereign debt doom loop,” the return of the bond vigilantes, and the AI + defense spending collision that could make this whole problem much bigger — link below once it’s live.
Sources & further reading:
OECD Global Debt Report 2026: https://ift.tt/UX30HIc
Bank of England gilt sales market notice: https://ift.tt/U4QnVCc
China Treasury holdings data (CNBC): https://ift.tt/ykIYz43
Primary dealer decline (NY Fed / Liberty Street Economics): https://ift.tt/YoD4XjF
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Chapters:
(fill in exact times once the video is edited — order matches the script)
00:00 – Intro: $29 trillion, and who’s buying it
03:07 – Chapter 1: The Sandbox (what a government bond actually is)
04:23 – Chapter 2: The Mountain of Debt
07:32 – Chapter 3: Central Banks Are Leaving the Party
09:27 – Chapter 4: Foreign Buyers Getting Cold Feet
11:43 – Chapter 5: Where Did the Shock Absorbers Go?
13:17 – Chapter 6: Meet the New King — Domestic Investment Funds
16:03 – Coming up in Part 2
#GlobalDebt #BondMarket #Economy
