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Why China Is Laughing All the Way to the BankPosted on Jul 29, 2011
By Joe Conason The global impact of the American debt crisis—and the likelihood of permanent damage to American interests—are already visible to Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., from his perch as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Indeed, he is not only seeing but hearing those effects. “The Chinese are laughing all the way to the bank,” said the former Democratic presidential nominee, because a downgrading of U.S. Treasury securities will mean enormous and completely unnecessary increases in our interest payments to the nation’s largest creditor—and our most important competitor in the international arena. “If we suffer a downgrade of our (U.S. Treasury) debt simply because of the brief time before we have to go through this exercise again,” said Kerry, referring to the House Republican insistence on a debt-limit increase that will expire before next Christmas, “it would mean billions of additional dollars that would have to be paid to the Chinese.” Those costs would come on top of the extra interest expense that all Americans would see on their home loans, car loans, student loans and credit cards, further weakening the slow recovery from the recession. Moreover, that loss would cut into government’s capacity to pay for important functions, sending many billions of additional dollars abroad instead of rebuilding our infrastructure, bolstering Social Security and Medicare, educating our children and maintaining national security. The ill wind of an American default and downgrade will blow far beyond any temporary financial setback, according to Kerry, when allies and adversaries assess this country’s future influence. Chairing the Foreign Relations Committee, he speaks frequently with diplomats, ministers, business executives, elected officials and social leaders from every continent—and he is disturbed by what they’re telling him now. Advertisement European leaders are particularly worried, said Kerry, because of the possibility that an American default will worsen the debt crisis across the Atlantic. “I met with the Greek foreign minister and deputy prime minister a few days ago,” he noted, to discuss the U.S. commitment to the International Monetary Fund, which is essential to Greece’s eventual economic recovery. He has heard expressions of deep anxiety from leaders in Spain and Italy, as well. More broadly, Kerry is hearing rumors of the decline of a nation that once led the world. “There’s a general sense that the United States has already been questioned about our steadfastness and willpower, the consistency of our pledges. ... One of the great things we’ve always had going for us was the sense of our strength, our unity of purpose, our ability as a democracy to come together and display our intent, and right now that is fraying—with the potential of serious consequences, not automatic, but certainly real.” Why would a group of conservative Republicans in Congress—who rarely stop braying about their great patriotism—create such a grave risk to American power and prosperity? “Some of them don’t get it, some don’t care, and for some it is a combination of both,” Kerry lamented. “I have had Republican leaders of the Senate—I’m not going to tell you who—tell me that they’ve tried to talk to some of these (House members), and they just don’t understand the implications of their actions.” By the time our congressional clowns realize what their intransigence has inflicted on this country, if ever, the harm will be done—and very hard to undo. © 2011 Creators.com New and Improved CommentsWe are launching a major overhaul of our comments section. In addition to more robust spam filtering and moderation, new features include the ability to rate other comments, sort how they are displayed and respond directly via e-mail or in a thread. Unfortunately, commenters will lose their existing Truthdig identities. It's a pain, we know, but on the plus side you will now be able to log in with a plethora of options, including Google, Twitter, Facebook and Disqus accounts. Before launching this system we spent months in discussion with our top commenters. We listened to the feedback and we hope you like what we've come up with. Please direct any problems or concerns to us via our contact page. |
By Cliff Carson, July 31, 2011 at 1:37 pm Link to this comment
Henri
Actually by following the U S model I meant by allowing itself to become a slave of the International Financial Cabal.
As to Sallustius and his quote, so far the United States has not started a war with any strong opponent, choosing instead to jump former U S installed Dictatorships, but even with the easy to start, we have found his quote applying in that it is hard for us to stop them.
Maybe I am wrong about hard to stop because I believe we could stop any of our ongoing ventures at a moments notice - if we wanted to. I don’t think our corrupt Government wants to stop any of them, they make too much money and accrue too much power to our Criminals in Charge to end such a good money maker - for them that is.
Every day as China grows stronger, the people of America must hope that our Empire boys don’t make that mistake of thinking a war with China would be “easy to start and easy to win” instead of heeding Sallustius warning of “Easy to start hard to stop”.
Since the U S is so dependent on Satellite guided weaponry ( Drones, etc) hopefully we won’t forget that China has developed the speediest Computers in existence and that China three or four years ago demonstrated their expertise in blowing satellites out of orbit.
That would obviously be their first strike - to make all computer operated weaponry go immediately dark.
As to the availability of Nuclear weaponry, I don’t think either the U S or China would hesitate to use those weapons and therefore, in the end if there are any survivors left, the war would be won by the largest number of combatants left to carry clubs and throw rocks.
Report thisBy M Henri Day, July 31, 2011 at 11:48 am Link to this comment
«... and I’ll bet China’s greatest concern is to not follow the U S Model.» What worries me, Cliff, is the prospect of China doing just that ; viz, following the US example, which is that of most great powers ever since entities which could be described in such terms came to be. Granted, the current Chinese leadership has been very prudent and studiously avoided foreign military adventures after Deng Xiaoping’s little Vietnamese excursion in 1979 (which it should be remembered, was concluded in one month), and generally speaking the country’s military policy has been that advocated long ago by Sun Wu, i e, gaining one’s objective without resorting to war is best and if one does have to resort to war, keep it brief. But while the present Chinese leadership seems to be acutely aware of the country’s uneven development and manoeuvres rather successfully between a need to defend its interests as they see them and a need to avoid armed conflict, will the prudence they exhibit last as China becomes more powerful and new leaders with no personal memories of these quondam weaknesses arise, or will an appetite for projecting military power across the globe grow with the capability to do so ? History makes it rather difficult to be sanguine on this point - as Sallustius observed a couple of millennia ago, «[o]mne bellum sumi facile, ceterum aegerrume desinere». The existence of thermonuclear weapons doesn’t seem to have made it easier….
Henri
Report thisBy Gabriel, July 30, 2011 at 11:58 pm Link to this comment
ROFLMAO ... every last one of you should be sent back to Economy 101
KISS rule = Keep It Simple Stupid ...
The British took over America via Federal Reserve as they did India via East India Company, China via Opium and rest of major countries with military bases and deception, reaped the profits and resources, then found a better deal in 3rd world countries, China included. They are now over in China as USA is too stupid to put the fraudsters in jail or keep the money in the country, while you squabble like chickens in a hen house with political semantics.
China is their next victim. You think maybe that is why Chinese had 135,000 protests and uprisings since start of last year?
It is not an isolated incident as the rest of the world is experiencing similar.
USA will become [is becoming] a polluted wasteland which the rich will own via their fraud schemes and 320 Million people will be their voluntary slaves. Most will die due to hunger, lack of medicine, violence and mostly their own stupidity. Now maybe you’ll realize why cops were given Military gear, Patriot Act installed, TSA, Homeland Security forced onto Americans, FEMA camps built and military has built DUMBS.
USA = next Gaza strip.
Too real for ya? Too off the wall? Look around, look at their words, follow the money, see what G8 and G20 are up to, dig into their secrets, put the pieces together. Do it quick because you don’t have much time. Like it or not, December 23, 2012 is their day to take over the planet via their banking scheme.
What are you doing to prepare, to survive, to help your neighbors and Citizens, to counter the Banker’s scheme, to save your Country?
If you’re too stupid or ignorant to realize this then stick your head back in the sand and quit posting such rubbish.
If you are genuinely interested in saving your asses and your neighbors then read my solutions and links in comments section here;
Report thishttp://www.truthdig.com/report/item/
power_of_the_big_idea_20110728
By ocjim, July 30, 2011 at 10:37 pm Link to this comment
Like it or not, the Chinese with their command economy can directly control decisions that the American masters can now only control though partially purchased leaders who must give some appearance of concern for the people, though now very small. The Chinese have unquestioned control, American plutocrats have a very messy control through mentally-challenged stooges that court an ideology that provides cover for the puppeteers behind them. The Chinese can only marvel at the largesse such vacuous stooges in the US House of Representatives bring them in the plutocratic leadership process.
Report thisBy Cliff Carson, July 30, 2011 at 11:18 am Link to this comment
I agree with you Henri, but not for the most of your reasons. I strongly believe that China is going to be wary of the moneychangers that own America and I’ll bet China’s greatest concern is to not follow the U S Model.
But as International Money accrues more and more to the few, the time will come when a Military conflict will arise. It will be pitting the United States against China. We need to really become worried about that.
I recall the Chinese Defense Minister making the statement that War with the United States is a certainty, the only unknown is when the shooting will start.
And yet what is bringing down the United States - a five letter word - GREED - breeds thoughts of Empire and the United States has embarked on this course.
We are easily knocking off the almost defenseless Nations today, and as we become emboldened, we will be just like the schoolyard bully: Some day we will pick on the wrong Nation and those we have stomped on will join them against us. The outcome will not be pretty.
Report thisBy M Henri Day, July 30, 2011 at 8:55 am Link to this comment
China «laughing all the way to the bank» ?!! I don’t know if Mr Kerry - and Joe Conason, who reproduces Mr Kerry’s pronunciamento -are disingenuous or merely ignorant. In the first place, China presently holds 26 % of all foreign-held U.S. Treasury securities, which themselves amount to less than half of the total
(https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/
United_States_public_debt#Foreign_ownership) ; i e, the Chinese own less than 13 % of these papers. In May of this year the Chinese held approximately 1.16 million million (10^12) USD of this debt, or approximately what the US government spends annually on its bloated military and its interminal wars of aggression abroad. The current (as per 2011-06-30) average interest rate on US debt, marketable and non-marketable is under 3 %
(http://www.treasurydirect.gov/
govt/rates/pd/avg/2011/2011_06.htm) ; were this to double to, say, 6 %, the Chinese (under the somewhat questionable assumption that they were to be paid), would earn an additional 30 thousand million (10^9) USD annually.
One USD currently buys 6,4371 RMB
(http://www.x-rates.com/d/CNY/table.html) ;
were the dollar to collapse and lose, say, 30 % of its value with repect to the yuan (a not unreasonable assumption ; some US senators have gone on record as calling for a 25 - 40 % appreciation of the value of the yuan), the value to the Chinese of the US debt would then diminish from approximately 6.5 to 4,55 million million RMB, i e, a loss of nearly two million million RMB. The annual interest in RMB would, under our assumptions above, be 273 thousand million RMB, as compared to 195 thousand million RMB at the current exchange rate of 6.4371 to 1 and the current interest rate of approximately 3 %. In other words, the Chinese creditors would lose 2 million million RMB to gain an annual increase in interest payments of 78 thousand million RMB, an interest rate of slightly over 1 %. Why should Chinese creditors be interested in such a deal, particularly when an economic collapse in the US would rob China of its largest market, and most likely lead to an economic collapse at home ? I sincerely doubt that Chinese economists are laughing at all, and certainly not on the way to the bank (which reserve currency, by the way, would that bank use ?)....
Henri
Report thisBy prisnersdilema, July 30, 2011 at 6:14 am Link to this comment
Just remember when the sheriff comes to evict you that he maybe doing it for land lords
from mainland china who are racing to buy up property here. At the same time that U.S.
Corporations are racing to put assembly plants over there.
So your jobs are in China, and now they own your mortgage too.
Does anyone sense where this is going?
Meanwhile John Boner, aka student loan Boner, who is the toadie of the student loan
industry, is protecting your country from deficit spending.
Debts are a bad thing, if your a country, but good if you are profiteer of debt slavery,
Report thisLike so many on Wall Street are. Isn’t that what derivatives are all about.
By eyeroll, July 30, 2011 at 5:26 am Link to this comment
“... sending many billions of additional dollars abroad instead of rebuilding our
infrastructure, bolstering Social Security and Medicare, educating our children….”
This is a pretty disingenuous point for Conason to make. You could probably
Report thiscount on one hand the number of congressmen who’ve made any of these an
actual priority.
By Abel Cains, July 30, 2011 at 4:49 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
If a well-informed, Yale-educated US senator thinks the Chinese will benefit from a US rating downgrade, it’s no wonder we’re in deep fiscal do-do.
The Chinese LOSE big time if that happens because the value of their US bond holdings will plummet. The additional interest they might earn wouldn’t offset the loss of principal.
Meanwhile, it’s Bankster this and Bankster that on this site and everywhere else. When did Alex Jones become America’s expert on high finance?
Folks, contrary to Mr Jones’ claims, it ain’t the Fed that’s running up our debt: it’s Uncle Sam. The Fed is a captive buyer of Treasuries, not their creator. The Fed also remits 94 percent of its profits to the US Treasury; it is a profit center for the US Treasury. Neither does the Fed have absolute control over money creation. Private credit companies (think GMAC or Indymac) drove much of the money-supply expansion, up to 2008. So if you think more money means more inflation, don’t blame the Fed—blame your neighbors for that second mortgage they took out to buy more Chinese bling.
A banker’s “inventory” comprises dollars. Why then would the “Banksters” (code apparently for “international Jewish bankers,” the arch evil-doers of all time according to the Nazis’s quaint, 19th-century world view) wish to destroy the value of their own inventory? Oh, I forgot: they want to kill us all and eat our children.
Report thisBy tedmurphy41, July 30, 2011 at 4:27 am Link to this comment
Why pick China out as if to imagine that it is the only investor making money out of America?
Report thisYour own rich “entrepreneurs” are doing the same thing and, should America fail to keep up payments, the money leaves the USA, the same Country which produced the wealth for these same rich individuals and corporations, who would quite ruthlessly take their money out of the Country in its hour of greatest need, and sometimes just for a fraction of a percentage point in interest payments.
Address this situation and you can crack this hegemony of the rich and, therefore, powerful, a selfish, unelected, bunch of parasites currently bringing your Country to its knees, and blaming the poor and unenployed as the cause of the problems you know experience, helpless people who have no real say in how the Country is run but feel the effects when things go wrong, as has just happened.
By drbhelthi, July 30, 2011 at 1:46 am Link to this comment
” - what exactly do you think they are hearing in this ‘conversation’ with
their imaginary deity - - ” kdyson
It has been explained to me that they hear nothing, and do not conduct a
conversation. Typically, they express frustration and confusion, and make
requests. Many of whom experience relaxation and an inner peace after the
experience. Thus far, no informant has mentioned the name, Ayn Rand.
Conversely, some “sensitives”, some of whom are called “fortune tellers”, have
Report thisexplained quite different experiences to me. Pictures and or scenes containing
information, sometimes faces or persons and even groups of persons, appear in
their consciousness. Some have reported mental conversations with persons in
their visions. I have had interactive experiences with two such persons, who
were quite gifted. Neither could discern my thoughts. However, both could
“call up” information to questions I posed to them, the answers to which
questions I knew. Their answers were consistently correct.
By kdyson, July 29, 2011 at 9:53 pm Link to this comment
...and that is what happens when zealots are allowed to
Report thisrepresent the electorate…especially those that feel
the need to pray before voting…what exactly do you
think they are hearing in this ‘conversation’ with
their imaginary deity…methinks it is what they ‘want’
to hear…and in this case it is Ayn Rand!
By LJ Furman, July 29, 2011 at 7:58 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
If, on August 2, 2011, the United States defaults on various debt obligations, then historians may well consider that date as the date on which the United States of America ceases to occupy the position it has held since the end of World War II. However, August 2, 2011, may be the end of the beginning. If so, it will mark a point of inflection in a curve that maps processes that has been in motion for a long time. The trends in personal debt, bankruptcy, home foreclosures, unemployment, and the disparity of income and assets between the wealthiest 10% of the population and the other 90% have developed over years.
July 14, 2011, Bastille Day in France, may in turn be considered to mark the coming of age of the successor to the United States as the superpower of the 21st Century, and that would be China. In “China Urges U.S. to Protect Creditors by Raising Debt,” Bettina Wassener in Hong Kong and Matthew Saltmarsh in Paris report in the New York Times, that “Hong Lei, a Chinese foreign affairs spokesman, urged the United States to protect the interests of foreign investors.” As one of the United States’s biggest creditors, China, which holds over $1.0 Trillion in US Treasury bills, “urged American policy makers on Thursday to act to protect investors’ interests, highlighting rising concerns around the globe about the protracted budget talks taking place in Washington.”
http://popularlogistics.com/
Report this2011/07/so-what-if-we-default/
By prosefights, July 29, 2011 at 6:36 pm Link to this comment
No one should be laughing all the way to the bank, IMO.
We all face possibilty of increased electric energy costs and possible shortages.
This may cost jobs and standard of living.
While we denigrate liberal arts ‘educated’ ... and are stil able to post at truthdig ... here’s an example of engineering incompetence amd/or stupidity.
From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
To: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 10:27:14 AM
Subject: RE: FW: Official Penton electronics response requested
Bill:
This is nonsense. I don’t understand what the fuss is about.
Sam Davis
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Editor-in-Chief: Power Electronics Technology
Phone: (818) 348-3982
http://www.prosefights.org/pease/pease.htm#shill
Engineers can be incompetent too but in a different way, IMO.
They fail to take into account the ‘big picture’ which the liberal arts educated are trained to do.
Report thisBy SoTexGuy, July 29, 2011 at 12:22 pm Link to this comment
China be darned..
WE create all this money when we borrow.. it flows directly into the paper accounts and businesses of the international Banksters and Traders who have no allegiance or responsibility to the USA.. or anybody! Is it any wonder Climate Change can’t be addressed.. or the looming crisis in fresh water supplies.. the last effin old-growth tree hacked down for some CEO’s desk or a million
chopsticks?!
You watch.. when we add Trillions to the debt the stock markets will grow in value by the same amount .. and the price of chicken down at the A&P will rise
by a dime or so a pound.. They get the cash, we pay.. directly and indirectly.
If the only economy we have is the Congress taking my potential for work, using it to get fake money from/for the Banksters and other insiders.. let it fall! And make one better..
Luckily for those in Congress and the Banksters.. what I think doesn’t mean hookey! We’ll have Trillions in more debt. The USA will totter on until we are told we are a 3rd world country (no one in the Press will ever figure it out) and need a REAL Bailout.. More mega-loans, more Money for the Banksters, More inflation.. Less Peace.
Will we revolt even then? Quien sabe!? It might take global annihilation from climate change or Nuclear Armageddon brought on by the nutty Israelis of the Christian right to bring us to our senses.
And oh! the shameless turncoat Democrats that won’t tell the truth in public about Social Security.. a self funded retirement annuity not responsible for the debt.. need to be run out of town on a rail..
Have a super day!
Report thisBy SoTexGuy, July 29, 2011 at 12:12 pm Link to this comment
Think about the size of the National Debt.. of course ‘National’ debt means the amount of money the Congress and the Bureaucracy have borrowed from the ‘Federal Reserve’ in our names. $14+ Trillions? It’s a football field of bundled
$100.00 bills 30 feet high? or some such nonsense. Nobody seriously thinks that will be paid back. Do you?
And why should it be repaid? After all there is no money in the Federal Reserve until someone borrows it and commits to pay it back, with interest. In other words the Banksters need us to borrow money.. for homes, for cars for wars so they have money to lend. It goes on our balance sheet as a liability. On theirs
this is an asset!
So when Germany and Switzerland ‘Bail Out’ Ireland.. it’s the promise of the Irish people that is the only thing of value in the deal.. The German banksters have made a new pile of ‘money’.. When the EU banksters ‘Bail Out’ Greece or Spain it’s the same.. the real work and pledges of the respective countries’ people is the prize.. in reality there are no Billions in ‘Bailout’ funds until the country accepts the Bailout..
Oh! ‘we have to charge big interest because those Irish are violent drunks and the Spanish are unstable and the Greeks.. they like the good life too much’! Meanwhile their own accounting shows the huge sums as plusses! .. the workers of Greece? They are now up to their ears in debt! Get to work!.. (not over)
Report thisBy SarcastiCanuck, July 29, 2011 at 11:53 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Boy oh boy,is the next generation being born ever going to be fuckin pissed….
Report thisBy christian96, July 29, 2011 at 11:42 am Link to this comment
According to John Kerry, “China is our most important competitor in the international arena.”
Report thisWell, that statement doesn’t make a lot of sense
but who expects “sense” to come out of Washington.
I just heard Tom Hartmann on the Free Speech Channel
mentioned that General Electric is moving a division to China. More use of dirt cheap labor and loss of
American jobs. As this trend continues I have trouble imagining the consequences. For one, you
can expect more deceptions from Washington to explain
the exodus across the Pacific. No Moses for this
exodus. Somewhere in the future you can expect
some people try to form unions in China. Those
people will be killed instantly. America used the
military to move coal miners out of their homes when
the miners tried to form the United Mine Workers of
America. The Chinese army won’t be so non-violent.
What’s going to happen in America? It’s not pretty.
First, we can expect massive protests. Then, the
protests will turn violent. Washington will send troops to stop the violence. The large multi-national corporations will have the politicans,
army, and supreme court on their side. The politicans will continue with their propaganda, such
as “What is best for Americans?”, “This is what
Americans want.”, etc. without really explaining
what Americans they are talking about. More marriages will break up over economic issues, more
children will suffer through the fighting between
their parents, there will be an increase in crime
as people fight for money, etc., etc., etc. The
politicans, multinational corporations, and supreme
court will continue to divide America knowing full
well that a nation divided against itself will fall.
Things were relatively good for the working middle
class in the 1950’s, 60’s, and 70, until Reagan
arrived on the scene and then the slippery fall
began. Of course you can’t blame everything on
Reagan. Those hot shot psychologists and economists
from the Ivy League schools contributed their share
to the fall. They were taught “God is dead” and
“survival of the fitest.” Sounds kind of pessimistic. Maybe I’m wrong. Time will tell.
By drbhelthi, July 29, 2011 at 11:18 am Link to this comment
“Why would a group of conservative Republicans in Congress—who rarely stop
braying about their great patriotism—create such a grave risk to American
power and prosperity?”
Is this the senator John Kerry, who falsified his location of service in the
VietNam war ?
Is this the senator Kerry, Democrat, same party that installed the Kenyan,
Obama, in violation of the U.S. Constitution?
http://web.archive.org/web/20040627142700/
eastandard.net/headlines/news26060
403.htm
Is this the senator Kerry, who is as equally aware of the Federal Reserve
Report thisfraud as any Republican?
Senator Kerry, who knows that the Federal Reserve, borrowing from itself, is
essentially a paper-work activity, and then charging itself interest on the
loan, paid by socio-economic-strata 1-4 of the US Citizenry, carefully
omitting the rich such as himself, is fraudulent ?
Senator Kerry, who slid right in behind the billionaire (ketchup) Heinz,
marrying the super-rich widow? Now, tell me again, the details of the death
of billionaire Heinz? Was Heinz one of several leaders who received an
injection of cancer cells, under the guise of inoculation, instead of a
round in the brain?
Senator Kerry is 100% trustworthy? O.K. But, for what can he be trusted ?
More distortion and propaganda from the anal orifice of the Democrat party ?
By Anarcissie, July 29, 2011 at 10:20 am Link to this comment
Perhaps the Chinese intend for the U.S. and its empire to become a sort of satellite, in roughly the same way as the U.S. took off the British Empire during and after World War 2.
Report thisBy Marian Griffith, July 29, 2011 at 10:18 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
@TDoff
The americans will not laugh if their country defaults, and neither will China or the rest of the world.
By tuesday every individual american citizen will have an effective debt between 500,000 and 600,000 (depending on how many americans there are). That is the value of two houses and then some. Since the average american does not have those two houses (or 8 in the case of the average family) that means all that money is either in somebody else’s bank account or gone to pay for things that go boom (or nom nom).
Defaulting does not make that debt go away. It simply means that it is going to be paid through interest rates (as Greece is discovering). At 1pct interest rate that 500000 means each American has to cough up 5000 each year just to keep the debt from growing. At 15 pct that is 75000. At 25pct (admitted that is an extreme and unlikely case) it is 125000. Each year. For each individual.
One way out of it is devaluation, but you can not effectively devalue the international reserve currency. Most of the world will simply devalue with you. In that respect the USA is in a similar position to Greece that thanks to the Euro also can not take the easy way out anymore.
The other way out is inflation, but that is going to be very ugly and more likely than not going to be an extremely graphic instruction to the Americans why after almost a century the Germans are still terrified of the spectre of inflation. Prices will double in a year (or less) savings accounts will become worthless because of that and the cost of loans will skyrocket (expect interest rates of 15 to 20 pct). And that is if it gets only moderately bad (like the 1970s for Europe). Should the situation develove into hyperinflation expect to be reduced to bartering for several years and a complete and utter destruction of the entire financial infrastructure before things can be slowly rebuilt.
The dollar is unlikely to survive this way out and the days of lending cheaply are definitely going to be over, as will be the days of economic world leadership, simply because the dollar will not longer be the reserve currency and blind faith in the USA economy will not return to its pre-crach levels.
So .. no .. I do not think that anybody is going to laugh. Not even the Chinese nor the Saudis (contrary to what the author thinks higher interest rates are only a good thing if they end up being paid. With an influential part of the republican party seemingly aiming for an economic collapse that is not exactly something to bet 2 trillion dollars on).
Report thisBy Rixar13, July 29, 2011 at 10:12 am Link to this comment
“Those costs would come on top of the extra interest expense that all Americans would see on their home loans, car loans, student loans and credit cards, further weakening the slow recovery from the recession.”
The G-NO-P aka Tea-Baggies are Sociopaths… sigh
Report thisBy California Ray, July 29, 2011 at 7:03 am Link to this comment
That giant cracking sound you hear is the U.S. military empire going bankrupt. The debt ceiling is the new Berlin Wall.
Report thisBy TVan, July 29, 2011 at 6:42 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
For ordinary Americans the response should be swift. Default on our debt. Debt to Mortgage companies, credit companies, banks, whomever we owe money to.
Report thisIf it’s good enough for the Tea Party and our government, it should be good enough for us too. Liberate yourself and show them what you think at the same time. It’s completely legal and can have a much greater impact than voting for the same old crooks.
By Jim Yell, July 29, 2011 at 6:18 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
As Nixon made up to the Chinese I realized that while it was time to stop “not talking to the Chinese”, that for a Republican President to acknowledge the “dirty communists”, well something was in the works.
I believe that these Internationlist Republicans made a nice fortune out of this move. Destroyed much of this countries Industry and gave the Chinese “Most Favored Nation Status”, which they didn’t deserve.
Now we had to borrow the money back that would have stayed in this country if we hadn’t allowed this process to continue, this process of deindustrialization. Our government and both parties have cooperated in a TREASON of disgusting degree.
What else can be said?
Report thisBy TDoff, July 29, 2011 at 6:06 am Link to this comment
Oh Yeah! Well, we Americans will have the last laugh, as we go bankrupt and into Chapter 11, and SCOTUS decides whether or not to pay the interest on our Chinese debts.
The odds of US paying that debt are slim, unless the Chinese come up with a couple of vast estates on the Yangtze and world-class yachts to which Clarence and Scalia can retire.
Report this