Let me provide the absolute numbers for you.
But ...
First, Erin's debt numbers are from 2009. She works for CNN these days. The date of the interview is January 2010. And the date of your goldbug article is also January 2010.
Second, you previously quoted 80% for 2009, as does your goldbug link: "However, the fact that the Federal Reserve is now buying approximately 80 percent of U.S. government debt was recently admitted on CNBC. The video clip below is from January 8th, and at the 1:45 mark of the video CNBC anchor Erin Burnett mentions the 80 percent figure and uses the term “Ponzi scheme” to describe the current state of affairs…."
Okay, here are the basic numbers from the White House table I linked earlier:
In 2009, federal debt increased by $1.890tn to $11.875tn. Federal debt increased by $1.235tn in 2011 to $14.764tn.
The Federal Reserve purchased (net) $853bn of federal debt in 2011. This is 69% of the total debt purchased in 2011.
The Federal Reserve purchased (net) $278bn of federal debt in 2009. This represents 15% of debt purchases in 2009 (rather than the 80% figure cited)!!
The Federal Reserve held $1.664tn of total federal debt at the end of 2011 per the GAO link. This is 11% of total debt.
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