As President Barack Obama prepared for his first presidential visit to Asia, he was publicly hectored by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to ensure that the U.S. will "effectively discharge its responsibilities," which means, he says, "We hope the U.S. will keep its deficit at an appropriate size so that there will be basic stability in the exchange rate and that is conducive to the stability and recovery of the world economy."
Get that. China is publicly chastising the U.S. for its fiscal irresponsibility. You know what, China has a right to complain; it is the single largest creditor nation to the U.S. government, holding $797 billion--nearly a quarter--of the total $3.45 trillion owed by Uncle Sam. Thanks to the decline in the value of the U.S. dollar, the Chinese have watched the value of their investment in U.S. debt drop by $128 billion in the past year.
