Schadenfreude

In February of 2009, The People’s Republic of China (a communist country) once again broadcast to the world that they were growing increasingly uneasy with the amount of US treasuries they were buying and holding. At that point they owned more than $744.2 Billion in US government debt, with additional large holdings of private US debt in the form of corporate bonds. In an article published in Reuters. Luo Ping, director-general at the China Banking Regulatory Commission (a communist), broadcast the increasing discomfort China had with its mounting US debt.

“Except for U.S. Treasuries, what can you hold?” Luo was cited by the paper as saying. “Gold? You don’t hold Japanese government bonds or UK bonds. U.S. Treasuries are the safe haven. For everyone, including China, it is the only option.” In further remarks, Mr. Luo stated, “There will be no bottom-fishing of financial institutions, particularly in the U.S., because there is a lot of uncertainty about the quality of the books,” the paper quoted Luo as saying; “We hate you guys. Once you start issuing $1 trillion-$2 trillion… we know the dollar is going to depreciate, so we hate you guys but there is nothing much we can do.”

Mr. Luo, just a reminder, you're the ones who are buying these pieces of paper rather than letting your currency appreciate. No one has a gun to your head.