China's U.S. Debt Quandary

Forbes ^ | 3/19/2009 | Gady Epstein

[bruinbirdman]

Chinese leaders' heavy investment in the U.S. economy has exposed them to domestic criticism--and the critics have a point.

U.S. investors may have cheered the Federal Reserve's decision this week to pump more than 1 trillion new dollars into the economy, but at least one faction in China was on the verge of tears.

"I want to cry, really want to cry," wrote one Beijinger on Thursday, posting on one of China's most popular portals, Sina.com. The problem was that by issuing more currency, the Fed was potentially weakening the U.S. dollar, making China's dollar-based investments worth less. "Those elites insist on buying American bonds."

One of "those elites" under fire is Premier Wen Jiabao. When he expresses public angst about the safety of China's holdings of U.S. debt, he is speaking partly to domestic critics who believe Chinese leaders have unwisely tied their country's fate to the U.S. economy. Many of the critics may be crackpots and conspiracy theorists, but they have a point.

They know that their government is now America's largest creditor, with more than half of its $2 trillion in foreign exchange reserves invested in Treasury securities and other U.S. government bonds. Some of these critics suspect that the Federal Reserve essentially prints more money not just to stimulate the economy, but also to devalue China's U.S. dollar portfolio, undermining a rival power.

It may be a paranoid theory, but it is a popular one. One of China's bestselling books in the past 18 months is Currency Wars, a conspiratorial screed that suggests that Western financial interests, including the Federal Reserve, seek to destroy the Chinese economy. The book has sold more than 1 million copies officially, and probably several million more pirated copies, and remains a bestseller now as economic conditions deteriorate.

Any leaders who

[glorgau]

This result was baked into the economy years ago.

The only way that China (and our own enormous deficits and assorted liabilities ) will ever be paid is through inflated dollars.

[JohnLongIsland]

Keynesian Economics is alive and well at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
God help us all.

[Nervous Tick]

>> U.S. investors may have cheered the Federal Reserve’s decision this week

Hmmm... it’s not clear they are cheering.

We are traveling down a road we haven’t been down before. I’m not confident our leaders to know what to do. Nor am I confident in their ability to competently execute whatever it is they decide to do.

There’s evidence that the markets agree with me on that.

We (and our Chinese “partners” in this mess) do indeed “live in interesting times”, eh?

[ConfusedSwede]

It is more likely that the leaders now what they are doing. They also know the consequences, but they must be very low-key and very diplomatic when they choose their words.

Everybody knows, helicopter-ben, the president and everyone else in teh administration. The problem is that the normal man easily losses control so the politician must be very vague and suger-coat the pill.

[familyop]

We’ll pay Charlie back for all of those products, then he’ll have mountains of money. He’ll be rich! ;-)

[nathanbedford]

It may be a paranoid theory, but it is a popular one.

It certainly is not surprising that conspiracy theories abound in a place like China without a free press. As one who lives in Germany, I am struck by the conspiracy theories that abound here in the absence of a balanced press. For example, a frightening percentage of the German people believe that the CIA orchestrated the attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11. They have no doubt that Bush lied, that he commenced the war for oil. The relentlessly anti-Bush, pro-Obama press in Germany has been at work now for decades and the result is not healthy for democracy.

I am concerned that this phenomenon is increasing in America. While Bush was in office there was the least a tension between the government and the media. One acted to some degree as a check on the other. But now that tension has been largely swept away between an anointed African American President on the one hand because he is the beau ideal of every leftist in the media on the other hand whose function it should be to present the other side. If the president of the United States is feeding conspiracy theories to the people, claiming that capitalists have betrayed them behind closed doors, for example, and the media uncritically echoes these charges, the potential for the nation to spin off into paranoia is real.

The danger Obama presents is that he is a Manchurian Marxist, a demagogue, one who himself believes that the white establishment jiggers the system, a Saul Alinsky conspiratorialist. As the economy deteriorates it is simply human nature to look around for villains. Clearly, Barak Obama will be only too happy to identify them for us. If he succeeds in silencing talk radio and controlling the Internet, the rest of the media which survives might more accurately be called an echo chamber.

Although it is not spelled out explicitly in the Constitution, a primary role of the president of the United States is to speak with the voice of reason. Obama's finger-pointing is hardly in the tradition of, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." We long to hear words of encouragement from the president. Indeed when the president sighs the stockmarket trembles. That means that the bully pulpit must be responsibly used. I have no confidence that Obama will do so.I have no confidence the press will call him on it.

[Caipirabob]

For years, the Chinese have touted their communist system, systematically bribed American officials, spied upon us at the highest levels and covertly placed their agents within positions of high influence throughout our government. Now those commie principles are being applied in United States domestic policy. What do we get?:

"Blah, blah - I don't like this..."

"Blah, blah - you're destabilizing our investments..."

"Blah, blah - you really should avoid Socialism..."

Thanks for nothing, China.

[Brilliant]

What? I thought Obama told them not to worry.

[Ronin]

America has no interest in destroying the Chinese economy. The American government is too busy destroying the American economy.

[Leisler]

The Chicom racketeer kept their currency low, almost worthless outside of China to keep their labor rates low, and attract plants to make stuff to export to glom profits.

This was of course stealing from the Chinese workers who should of gotten a stronger currency to buy our products, thus balancing out the money.

Naturally our mercantile elites, many of them in the GOP, supported this. Certainly every manufacture that shut down here in the US, had a vested interest in stealing from the Chinese worker and putting the profits into American elites, GOP, Banks, Goldman Sacs( For example, Hank Paulson has been to China when working at Goldman Sacs near a hundred times) and of course the Communist Party kleptocrats. Oh, and American workers get the debts.

Nice racket. Steal from Chinese workers. Pile debts on to American workers. And American elites, Chinese Communist elites have warm feeling about each other.

And why shouldn’t they, from their stand point?

Anyways, none of this is going to be politically fixed. The people at the controls, are the ones that have made billions and they are going to ride this money making machine right up until it explodes. In violence. Here or in China. Then they figure out how they can profit from that too.

[RU88]

“Never before has the U.S. been so heavily financed by one country.”

And a communist one at that! Greed knows no bounds.

[lmr]

“As the economy deteriorates it is simply human nature to look around for villains. Clearly, Barak Obama will be only too happy to identify them for us. If he succeeds in silencing talk radio and controlling the Internet, the rest of the media which survives might more accurately be called an echo chamber.”

This is certainly a frightening observation and one that is entirely plausible in light of our present situation.

[Leisler]

I’m of the opinion that about half of all populations are not able to think, and only have notions that they live amongst.

Not one in a thousand, maybe ten, makes any inquire into economists, philosophers, political philosophers.

Sitting, once, in a class and thumbing through Howard Zinn is thought to be informed.

[Nickname]

Another thing that they ought to consider is that our government is destroying the value of contracts in America.

If contracts can be voided at the whim of congress, who is to say that our obligation to repay them can’t also?

[ari-freedom]

The only way that China (and our own enormous deficits and assorted liabilities ) will ever be paid is through inflated dollars.

or war

[ari-freedom]

“Not one in a thousand, maybe ten, makes any inquire into economists, philosophers, political philosophers.”

Obama’s side is loaded with PhD economists, scientists and philosophers. The problem is that they are lacking in common sense and ignore basic first principles.

[Nick Danger]

Certainly every manufacture that shut down here in the US, had a vested interest in stealing from the Chinese worker and putting the profits into American elites, GOP, Banks, Goldman Sacs...

That is an especially stupid and ignorant view of how economies work. Whoever sold it to you will be back next with snake oil.

In the first place, China is losing manufacturing jobs, and has been for years.

Secondly, most of the benefits of cheap imports accrue to the people who buy them; there's nothing wrong with getting stuff cheap. To say that only "elites" benefit from cheap goods is nothing but class-envy stupidity. If the average person thought that more expensive goods were a better deal, they would buy the more expensive goods. They don't... and if you don't like it, take it up with them instead of blaming "CEOs" or "Hank Paulson" or some other class-envy bogeyman for the actions of your fellow Americans.

Back in the 1970's, all we heard about was how manufacturing was moving to Japan. We were all gonna die. Instead the Japanese economy went into a decade-long funk that they still haven't gotten out of, and Japanese companies ended up putting auto plants here and hiring Americans to make their cars.

Quit trying to centrally plan the economy by telling your fellow Americans what they can buy and from whom. Left alone, market economies sort this stuff out better than any amount of planning from well-meaning geniuses.

[sourcery]

Americans who aren't members of the privileged elite are just as much victims of Keynesianism, of socialism, and of the current fiat monetary system as are the Chinese.

United we stand, divided we fall.

[Iowa Granny]

U.S. investors may have cheered the Federal Reserve's decision this week to pump more than 1 trillion new dollars into the economy

I don't know a single person that cheered.

But I know tons of people who are OUTRAGED!