Did you know that we owe the Chinese some money?
 

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/20080...hinese-dollars

(snip)
Through the quarter-century in which China has been opening to world trade, Chinese leaders have deliberately held down living standards for their own people and propped them up in the United States. This is the real meaning of the vast trade surplus—$1.4 trillion and counting, going up by about $1 billion per day—that the Chinese government has mostly parked in U.S. Treasury notes. In effect, every person in the (rich) United States has over the past 10 years or so borrowed about $4,000 from someone in the (poor) People’s Republic of China. Like so many imbalances in economics, this one can’t go on indefinitely, and therefore won’t. But the way it ends—suddenly versus gradually, for predictable reasons versus during a panic—will make an enormous difference to the U.S. and Chinese economies over the next few years, to say nothing of bystanders in Europe and elsewhere.

Any economist will say that Americans have been living better than they should—which is by definition the case when a nation’s total consumption is greater than its total production, as America’s now is. Economists will also point out that, despite the glitter of China’s big cities and the rise of its billionaire class, China’s people have been living far worse than they could. That’s what it means when a nation consumes only half of what it produces, as China does.

We are involved in the global capitalist economy which means that all the heavy hitters are indebted to one another both financially and socially.

What's up with the President Chavez urging Latin American allies to withdraw billions of dollars of reserves from American banks, warning of US economic crisis and the fear of "putting all eggs in one basket?" Why's their money here versus there? It's how this world works. :) It's probably also why the drug trade and immigration are the way they are. :) But lets keep incarcerating low level drug offenders and wearing down on social welfare systems instead of addressing the core problems.

Who don't we owe? American and Chinese relations aren't that great anyway. China is becoming a super power like us, according to what I've read.

Each American owes approximately $4,000 to the Chinese government.


And a collection call would go somethign like this:



RRRiing


Hello...may I speak to Bob _____ ?

Yes...Hi....my name is Chun Li calling from the Chinese consulate....

Why are we calling at 3:15 am? Wow..well sir..it's actually 4:15pm here.

Where am I calling from? Beijing...no...no sir...you aren't paying for this call.

What do I want?

Well sir on behalf of the Chinese government we are calling in regards to the $3875 that you owe...when would you be able to pay sir....

Sir?





Sir?

Sir...there is no need to use that type of language...

Go fu...? Sir...that is really inappropiate to say over the phone!! I am a lady after all and married!

If you like you can provide a credit card number and we can....


Hello?

lol :p

It was my understanding that we are in debt to many countries. I don't know how much "many" actually means, but it's more than just a few.

I would think there would be some sort of "currency system" out there where bartering could exist. For example, military aid in exchange for $$ owed, or even on a multi-national level.... humanitarian aid would wipe out debts owed (among different countries, not just what the US owes to let's say, China).

I am not well versed in politics or economics, but at the level that these deficits and debts owed is often in sums beyond which would ever be fully recovered - billions and trillions - I would think there has to be a better system out there to make restitutions. At least, the idealist in me would like to think that something like this could be looked at.

Think about it tho...doesn't it explain how and why we wind up selling our old weapons systems to other nations that in some cases we are supposed to be enemies with?

Most recently we 'accidentally' sold some F 14 parts to Iran for instance....

but hey..just like dope dealers...no matter how much we can't stand the customer they won't say no to a dollar.

Did people not think that our national debt included international debts?

we had to rob somebody to pay somebody and when we ran out..we started taking from the piggy bank that Mama Liberty had stashed away.

Of course we owe the Chinese. Jeez, people, we get everything from China. Do you think they import stuff from the U.S.? The trade deficit we have with China, and other countries, is astronomical. We don't export anything in this country, other than airplanes, some fruit, and MONEY.

Don't forget about jobs.

Welcome to the real world!:rolleyes:

More out of America own the good old USA than the poor tax payers (Us) do.

Welcome to the US owned by everyone!:mad:

US debt worst out of 163 Nations, China best

Foreign Holders of US Debt

Incarcerating low level drug offenders really isn't that expensive in the grand scheme of things. We should cut war and welfare spending if we really want to save money.

It actually is.

But saving money wasn't my point.