printWe’ve been saying this on BAB for quite sometime: China has been a good sport about bearing the brunt of the American debt. Now a Republican admits the same:
“Representative Mark Kirk, a member of the House Appropriations Committee and co-chair of a group of lawmakers promoting relations with Beijing, said China had ‘very legitimate’ concerns about its investments.”
“‘It would appear, quietly and with deference and politeness, that China has canceled America’s credit card,’ Kirk told the Committee of 100, a Chinese-American group.” By which he meant that “investors in China have sharply curtailed their purchases of bonds.” [My emphasis]
“The Republican lawmaker said that China was justified in concerns about returns from finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were bailed out by the US government due to the financial crisis.”
Yes, it takes a change of fortunes for Republicans to quit dissing the patient Asians for their democratic deficits, and begin to be thankful that they’ve continued to finance America’s non-stop spending and consumption.
I suspect that were Bush at the helm, republicans would be cussing and carrying on in their usual sinophobic manner.
The patient Asians took what we dished–the dissing, the spending, and the exported inflation.
No more.
We certainly are living in interesting times (as the old Chinese curse goes).
China could always team up with Iran and Russia and dump bonds.
Then what?
Uncle Sam is gonna repudiate his debts.
Either directly.
Which I doubt.
Or indirectly.
Via the printing press.