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...which is what those serial numbers would be good for, I would think.

Have wondered if in these G8 and other bigwig meetings, our guys don't casually spread the word, unofficial-like, that notes belonging to X party are not considered to be transferrable, hinting along the way that any actions taken by X percieved to be an attack/attempt against our country could result in our not honoring the markers "X" holds against us.

Of course, such an act would be against the spirit of fiduciary objectiveness which supposedly is built into the system... part of the reason the US Economy is the biggest and most solid on the planet is the faith that we guarantee (as much as can be...) those bills. Such an act would no doubt shake that guarantee with obvious results.

But such acts have also happened, and in the recent past, and been conducted by countries who've endeavored to place their financial standing on the same footing/trust as the United States. Think France defaulting on debt to the US post WWII (other countries may have as well, i think). Yes, I know, using France is a terrible example, but it did happen, and absent the affects of the vichy social-economy experiment (certainly a different topic) we do business with them, they have an economy, conduct loans/investment abroad and in their country.

If anything, today's information world has resulted in one key change: higher levels of education/knowledge about how the world works than ever before, for example seeing a middle-class now become an investor class (previously a small and guarded elite).

These people not only understand better the intricacies of economies and investment, but the underlying premise of what makes an economy run. At their most basic level, economies run on trust. This trust is most obviously displayed in the faith an investor/loaner has that his investment will be treated in good faith.

This "good faith" is a two way street - the beneficiary of the investment must trust the loaner enough to know that the loan "won't be called in" before the previously agreed-upon schedule - and that's what a Tnote does.

If the Chicoms or anybody else thinks that they've got us by the short ones by holding so much of our paper, and think they can damage us by calling in the marker, well they'd be correct; there would be damage... but it cuts both ways, and they would suffer the larger gash.

I think today's middle-class investors, huge in numbers if not individual accounts, know this two-way trust relationship, and know it better than all those talking heads (who seem to only focus on one aspect of this trust). If the chinese get funny, Joe six-pack will know why... and ultimately lay his chips and fortune with the US.

Well, enough of my lay approach to this stuff... I say F$%K the chicoms.