Septimus, switching your fonts around isn’t as impressive as you think.
The difference between the American government investing in Canadian bonds and the American government “investing” in American bonds is very real. A bond is nothing but a promise that the government will collect taxes at some point in the future. As Americans, it makes a big difference to us if Americans or Canadians are paying those taxes.
Here’s a simple comparison. Suppose every week I loan my neighbour Bill a hundred dollars and he gives me IOU’s. Bill then goes out and spends the money buying beer. Now suppose that a year from now, I have an unexpected medical bill and I need five thousand dollars. I go over to Bill’s house with those IOU’s and he has to find the five thousand dollars he owes me.
Now, suppose every week I loan myself a hundred dollars and give myself an IOU. I then go out and spend the money on beer. And a year from now, I have an unexpected medical bill and I need five thousand dollars. But it’s okay - because just like above I have a drawer full of IOU’s worth five thousand dollars. Problem solved. I’ll just cash those IOU’s in and use that money to pay off that bill.
This illustrates the fundamental difference between loaning money to somebody else and loaning money to yourself. Mainly, you can’t loan money to yourself.