Marin Independent: America's Creditor Nations Losing Faith in USA's Soundness

[El Pinko]

Alan Miller: Are we living better than we should?
Staff Report
Article Launched: 02/10/2008 12:04:55 AM PST

Alan Miller
TWO OF THE widely prescribed, but seldom observed, rules of American life are "live within your means" and "don't go into debt."

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In a remarkable and depressing article in the January/February issue of the Atlantic, "The $1.4 trillion question," James Fallows sums up our national indebtedness problem and outlines the gravity of our obligations to China.

"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 U.S. In effect, every person in the (rich) U.S. has over the past 10 years borrowed about $4,000 per person from someone in the (poor) People's Republic of China."

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As our economy falters because of the housing bubble and the erosion of the dollar's value, there is less faith in this country's economic soundness by our creditor nations.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Always tried to live within my means

and have only gone into debt to buy my home(s). Only time I did go into debt for someone, they skipped out on the deal without paying for the truck my husband got for them--and they took the truck. We learned our lesson. Never again will I be in debt. Might not have much, but don't owe, either.