Tim Geithner's "Buy America" tour of China was always more or less a joke, but the "bankers' best friend" almost avoided getting laughed off the stage (mainly because of the legendary Chinese deference to visitors) until a student at China's top university asked Geithner about the safety of Chinese assets in the United States.
In response to a question after his speech, Mr Geithner told the student audience that "Chinese assets are very safe", drawing loud laughter from his student audience.
But how did Geithner summarize his adventures in China for American reporters?
"What I sense is a fair amount of confidence, not just in the basic underlying strength and resilience of the U.S. economy, its dynamism, but in our capacity not just to solve this crisis, get growth back on track, but to go back to living within our means," Geithner said.
Harharharhar!!!
And even while China's student elite was laughing down Geithner and his pitiful currency, the official attitude was much grimmer...
Though opinion is divided sharply over the necessity to buy more US treasury bonds, few Chinese would think that the country's vast holdings of US financial assets are secure as long as the dollar's long-term value is in doubt.
A cartoon in the same issue of China Daily is even bleaker... for us.
Snooze on, America!
You won't like what you see, when you finally wake up.
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