What Would China Do?

It's not so much what would China do that is the question as what would China want us to do?  Furthermore, why should we do what China wants us to do? When it comes to America's budget deficit, what would China, a nation that probably holds most of our debt, want us to do about our deficit?  After all, our debt is China's problem too right?  They bought it, so we owe them.  Our failure to pay is a problem for China.

So what does this have to do with American policy and American problems?  It is quite simple really, China, like sensible Americans, realizes that fixing our economy is more of a priority than fixing our deficit, and that ultimately, an economic recovery will go a long way towards reducing the deficit.  China understands that short term cuts derail our economic recovery and China understands that defaulting on our debt would be "catastrophic" both for China and for America.

Given that I don't often have much good to say about China, a country that keeps its currency artificially low and flaunts copyright laws while pirating technology, (and intimidates its neighbors and refuses to crackdown on North Korea) I find that I'm a little mystified with myself for agreeing with them on this issue.  But it makes sense that leaders of the world's most rapidly growing economy have at least a little grasp of economic issues, more so, it seems that the Republican party that led us into recession and is trying keep us there.

What does it say about the state of the nation when China's leaders want what is best for America and Republicans do not?  Or least when China's leaders understand what is best for America and Republican do not...You would think that if America's debt was about to ruin our nation then the people holding much of that debt would be terrified, but they're not.  They realize that our fiscal problems - while big - are long-term problems that are secondary in nature to our economic woes and will be partially resolved if we can fix the economy.

Maybe this is the big secret though, maybe Republicans know fixing the economy will alleviate the deficit which means they won't be able to implement Paul-Ryan-No-Care and cut other services that make our lives better.  Of course, you have to wonder why Republicans would want to cut those services in the first place, but that is a whole different issue.