China

Visiting our President this week is Hu Jintao, the leader of China. The issues that will be discussed are complicated and range from human rights abuses, trade policies, quality of imported goods, open markets in China, the value of the yuan and the realities behind China's ownership of hundreds of billions of dollars worth of U.S. Treasuries. Our nation has never defaulted on any bond obligation in its history and the purchases of them by China and other nations, allows our country to meet the obligations of difficult to control spending and economic turbulence. If China were to lose serious confidence in our ability to pay, these purchases would be reduced and our government would face a deeper financial crisis tied to confidence as opposed to unchecked spending. As it is, global credit agencies will probably lower our credit rating. The President has a great challenge ahead where he must balance the realities of China's growth, competitiveness and financial strength with our own national interests, a very complicated task. Just like the House is using words like repeal, which is an exaggeration and symbolic only, its irresponsible use of the threat not to raise the debt ceiling is dangerous to our interests. It sounds wonderful as a campaign tactic, but those who threaten this while China and the U.S. are looking to mend fences in a variety of areas, are not acting in the best economic interests of our country. Save the slogans and promises and silly words for the campaign trail, not for governing. The harsh reality is that we will continue to spend and grow the deficit in the near term, like it or not. Shaking the world's confidence in the United States is simply not in our best interests. Where are you Americans for reason and truth?