Saturday, July 11, 2009

Concerned In China

clipped from www.bloomberg.com

July 10 (Bloomberg) -- Returning from China last month,
U.S. Congressman Mark Kirk had a bearish take on a high-level
visit by American officials.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner claimed the U.S.’s
biggest creditor voiced great confidence in its debt. Kirk, an
Illinois Republican, came back with the opposite impression.

“China is beginning to cancel Congress’s credit card,” he
told Fox News on June 10. It “doesn’t want to lend much more
money to the United States and especially is worried about the
Fed’s policy of printing money to buy new debt.”

A month later, there’s no doubt about whose assessment was
more accurate. Chinese leaders are clearly very concerned about
the dollar. How they will react is a key question hanging over
markets, and it’s time to take the discussion to the next level.