Xinhua: After historic downgrade, U.S. must address its chronic debt problems

[dkf]

BEIJING, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- The days when the debt-ridden Uncle Sam could leisurely squander unlimited overseas borrowing appeared to be numbered as its triple A-credit rating was slashed by Standard & Poor's (S&P) for the first time on Friday.

Though the U.S. Treasury promptly challenged the unprecedented downgrade, many outside the United States believe the credit rating cut is an overdue bill that America has to pay for its own debt addition and the short-sighted political wrangling in Washington.

Dagong Global, a fledgling Chinese rating agency, degraded the U.S. treasury bonds late last year, yet its move was met then with a sense of arrogance and cynicism from some Western commentators. Now S&P has proved what its Chinese counterpart has done is nothing but telling the global investors the ugly truth.

China, the largest creditor of the world's sole superpower, has every right now to demand the United States to address its structural debt problems and ensure the safety of China's dollar assets.

To cure its addiction to debts, the United States has to reestablish the common sense principle that one should live within its means.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-08/06/c_131032986.htm

[Warpy]

1. Doing that spells bad news for China

because it would mean wresting money from the rich to provide seed money to restart our own manufacturing.

However, they're right. Until we do that, we're third world and our slide into serfdom will continue.