A gentle reminder: China owns more than 320 BILLION of our foreign debt.

[Poll_Blind]

And it's still buying... Currently #2 after Japan.

MAJOR FOREIGN HOLDERS OF TREASURY SECURITIES

  Unlike our allies/friends who compose the bulk of the list China may not have the best of intentions when purchasing our debt. As China buys more and more debt from the United States their ability to cripple us economically via a sell-off of those Treasury Securities grows. They are currently the second-largest holder of our Treasury Securities held by a foreign nation.

  China has about 20 ICBMs. That's right, about 20 with a total stockpile of less than 200 warheads. Even if that's a low-ball, and it probably is, it's something far far less than the nearly 6,000 nuclear weapons the United States has spread out over ICBMs, submarines, etc.

  China does not need so many nukes.

  China has a bomb that can destroy our country and leave every building perfectly intact.

  And we sold it to them.

  Our debt.

Translation: All your economy are belong to us!

PB

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. short and to the point

kicked and recommended

[still_one]

2. and if if they screwed us, they would also screw themseleves

[Poll_Blind]

3. How is that?

PB

[still_one]

5. if we didn't buy their products their economy would fall

[Poll_Blind]

9. An economy based on slave labor fall? No, not at all. n/t

PB

[still_one]

10. have you ever been to China?

[Poll_Blind]

13. No. Does that alter the fact they own 320+ billion of our debt?

PB

[still_one]

15. and what if we tell China screw you, eat the debt

The reason I asked if you had been to China, is because what is touted as slave labor, is greatly exaggerated

I am no expert on China, but have been there quite frequently

Incidently, just to set the record right, I am for protecting OUR JOBS

[Poll_Blind]

17. I really can't say what would happen if the world's #1 debtor nation...

...told the whole world to just go hang. I want to assure you though, my fear is that someday the U.S. government might do just that.

  That would probably not bode very well for the United States, I'd wager, on a number of fronts.

PB

[still_one]

19. I don't think they will, just throwing out what ifs

but I do believe our standard of living will go down

[Old and In the Way]

22. Of course, telling them to "eat it" will have have a rather negative

consequence on the USD. More likely, we'll start to see the RMB start to float...that'll make the securities worth less over time, but the cost of goods will start to go up and it will make us more competitive. I think purchasing our debt has been part of a quid pro quo with our government. Buying China goods is offset by their agreement to use the dollars to fund our deficit. Not a good long term strategy for us, but I think that's been the deal for awhile.

China's internal market is getting stronger by the day. At some point, the export market won't be nearly as important as it has been. When that day occurs, the rules are going to change.

I'm waiting for the day when the Chinese don't show up for our T-Bill auction....I think that's going to have a pretty drastic effect on our economy....interest rates will start to increase, big time.

[Old and In the Way]

21. A lot of misconceptions about the Chinese here.

True, they make a fraction of what our typical hourly rate is...but their COL is a fraction of what ours is. The industrialized centers are incredibly vibrant and westernized. Hate to say it, but the 21st century is going to be China's time to shine. Given what they endured in the 20th century, I have no qualms with their progress. Except that they are doing stupid things like promoting cars...big mistake, I think.

I'm not sure I understand the point of the OP. We should be worried about 20 ICBMs when we have 6000? They spend about $24BB/year on military budgets...we spend $450BB. We ought to understanding the domestic threat this overbalance is creating.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. Not necessarily

I think we are even now seeing an economic realignment in the world. I predict that China will make new alliances and open new markets in Asia and the Middle East that will more than make up for the markets here in the US. They might not be ready to pull the rug out from under us immediately, but they will, eventually, when it is in their self interest to do so.

[still_one]

6. really, what if we say SCREW THE REST OF THE WORLD

and decide to ISOLATE OURSELVES FROM THEM?

[Poll_Blind]

8. LOL...Is "Screw the rest of the world" really an answer one can give...

...in the 19th, 20th or 21st centuries?

PB

[still_one]

14. I didn't say it would happen, it was just a possibility

in fact a country which has enough resources for its own citizens could maintain its own internal economy

again, not what I believe, but would work

[Poll_Blind]

7. Exactly. The Chinese do not wade through thousands of products...

...in their stores annoyingly-marked "Made In U.S.A." If and when China chooses to use ourt debt against us they are vastly more able to absorb any losses from our collapse.

PB

[still_one]

18. Only because our standard of living is so much greater than theirs

and it would be much more difficult for us to accept a lower standard of living, which might very will happen

[Poll_Blind]

20. Which could actually lead to a default on those Treasury Securities as...

...we discussed earlier in the thread. It's as if the American economy with it's rampant borrowing is a macrocosm of the microcosm of the "average" indebted American.

PB

[SlipperySlope]

11. international economics...

That's a Korean propaganda picture you posted in an article about China.

Nonetheless...

1: We can inflate our way out of this debt at any time.
2: We can repudiate this debt at any time.

Also:
China's worst enemy right now is unemployment. We stop buying their crap, their workers don't have jobs, they are looking at social collapse and civil war.

[Poll_Blind]

16. Can you give me an example each of when this method has been...

...used, historically, that does not involve tulips?

PB

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. The problem isn't China. The problem is the debt.

But, I find the irony of "Communist" China owning "Capitalist" America's debt deliciously amusing.

[Old and In the Way]

23. I certain irony, that's for sure.

Remember how worried we were about domino's falling 40 years ago? Looks like they've taken to capitalism quite fervantly...maybe we should have left well enough alone...

[Sven77]

24. and they own the Panama Canal

thanks Jimmy.

[sendero]

25. China....

.... will fulfill their dreams of world domination without ever firing a shot. They will do it using choke-hold economics, and their plan is already well underway and working like a charm.

The US is becoming much more dependent on China than they are on us. And they seem to be a lot smarter than our government, by getting "free trade" instead of "fair trade" - they dump their products here and it doesn't really matter that we can't dump our products there - we make no products.

America is dead man walking economically, as far as I can tell. Maybe we can sell the Chinese some life insurance or pilates instruction.