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"Few Dare Call What I Did Treason"
Yuan Gangming, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think tank, smelled some political wrangling behind the U.S. debt debate as the 2012 presidential election draws nearer and said Republicans “want to make things difficult for Obama.”
But with time running short before the U.S. Treasury exhausts its borrowing room, Yuan said default was a real risk.
“The possibility is quite high to see a default of the U.S. debt, which would harm many countries in the world, and China in particular,” he said.
Remember when Republicans like Mark Kirk (see photo above) were working to hamstring Obama on a bigger stimulus package by essentially telling the Chinese leadership not to loan the US any more money now that Obama was president because his budget numbers couldn’t be trusted? Even some conservatives reamed Kirk out for that move.
Have the Republicans totally forgotten that Kirk did this — and most of them approved? Do they think the Chinese are stupid? Now the Chinese are learning that it’s the Republicans whose word they shouldn’t be trusting when it comes to money.
By the way, why aren’t there any quotes in here from the anti-debt bond vigilantes and the Pete Peterson crowd talking about how a brief default will be totally worth it if it leads to less debt in the long run? I mean, isn’t that who the Republicans are doing this for?
(Crossposted at Renaissance Post and Mercury Rising.)
18 Comments
The very existence of the debt limit is bull shit. The legacy parties pretense of debate is seven layers of bull shit. Why not just ignore the debt limit like it was the constitution?
Hey morons! Nobody wants to loan us money anyway!
The nations holding US debt should be all but screaming at the republicans right about now. I’m surprised we don’t hear more about the various countries including Japan, Brittan, even Russia has some. They should all be reading them the riot act.
I honestly don’t think the tea baggers understand just how bad default can be. Even I don’t fully appreciate it but I know its something very bad I want to avoid.
China fears a default your right PW the Chinese have for some reason decided they can’t trust the GOP either the Chinese do not trust the GOP’s political economic games…or China wanted something from the GOP and the GOP failed to deliver.
China does things in secret first before they announce stuff publicly the GOP should expect surprises.
Its possible the Chinese are going to take some “moves” to show they do not like the US toying with the idea of not paying its bills.
I wonder what if any recourse the Chinese could take to recover their money should the US default? I also wonder what they could do beforehand to “encourage” the Republicans to rethink what they are doing.
Republicans don’t like the idea of a Democracy, or a Middle Class. As long as defaulting does not harm millionaire and billionaires (it won’t) they’ll do it.
Hey ya PW, what would Default actually mean to us?
It would mean, among other things, that what are normally the safest investments one can make — Treasury bills — are worthless. And considering that the stock market is already teetering, there would be no such thing as a safe haven, outside of perhaps Bitcoins, for your material wealth.
for better or worse the obama administration has it within their power to get around the debt limit in order to spend.
just one of the many stories i’d title: selise (and friends) learn not to trust either Ds or Rs.
either the Ds are too stupid to breath, or they’re equal partners with the Rs in the political theater.
are there any alternative conclusions i should consider?
Chinese ratings house: U.S. government already defaulting on debts
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/06/10/chinese-ratings-house-u-s-government-already-defaulting-on-debts/
i don’t see this at all. isn’t it only the interest, not the principle that is possibly at play here if there is an actual default?
if the obama administration bought that one, then they are more stupid (and less evil) than i thought.
from your link:
we have a floating currency. how the heck is that a default?
Is it treason yet?
Now why would China not trust Republicans if they are looking out for them?
“The Logan Act (18 U.S.C.A. § 953 [1948]) is a single federal statute making it a crime for a citizen to confer with foreign governments against the interests of the United States. Specifically, it prohibits citizens from negotiating with other nations on behalf of the United States without authorization.”
Link
And if Obama and Holder refuse to prosecute him, they are complicit and craven.
There really is no excuse, or consistency in equal application of the law when they will go to extreme lengths to stretch the meaning of law to prosecute whistleblowers.
call me disgusted.
I think that default will not automatically produce a catastrophe. In fact, it could demonstrate that a government in which the public has confidence can roll-over, re-organize, and re-finance debt far more effectively than the private sector.
Of course, given that our financial sector is in the greedy grasp of the banksters, it’s very possible that default will trigger a panicked, cascading run on banks all over the world.
That’s how it works around this household too.
Rats, the above “reply” was for a different thread.
Apologieis.
The Chinese are “speaking” with their actions.
They presently hold approx. 1.4+ Trillion dollars in U.S. debt. However, that total has diminished in each of the last 5 months.
Perhaps the more informative “tell” has been that they have divested themselves of 95% of the U.S. short term Treasury bonds they had been buying over the past two years. Up until October of last year, that trend had been compensated for with a corresponding increase in long term Treasury securities purchases, but now that is waning as well.
Clearly they are no longer “bullish” on America.
“smelled some political wrangling … Republicans “want to make things difficult for Obama.”
Of all the things you can call Republicans, ‘inscrutable’ is not one.