I sent a note to Victor Davis Hanson

This is a quick email I sent to Victor Davis Hanson.


I'd like to respond to your statement:

"...but since a dictatorial communist China holds over $1 billion dollars in U.S.-government-backed bonds, it is unlikely that any street protesting will lead to much more than a few meaningless resolutions in Congress..."

Two things about this:

1. "$1 billion dollars" must be a typo. (or actually 2 typos). Congressmen spend this much money without thinking about it at all.
2. This is fodder for conspiracy nuts. The fact that other countries hold US debt does not drive policy. Why would it? What recourse does China have with regard to the debt?

The idea that equates personal debt with national debt leads to a huge number of misunderstandings, to fear mongering, and to a loss of focus on the real problems. National debt is not a large enough part of GDP to represent a real problem in the US. (The unfunded Social Security and Medicare liabilities are, but that's not generally talked about as "debt" and has absolutely nothing to do with bonds or foreign bond holders.)

Please don't feed the fear mongers and conspiracy nuts. If you don't have a full understanding of the debt and finances, then ask someone at NR who does before you tell people to worry about foreign bond ownership. Foreign bond ownership is a non-factor.