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You're confusing mechanism with economics. "China isn't the US's lender and they do not make any loans." Yes, China is a lender to the US, in fact the largest

You're confusing mechanism with economics. "China isn't the US's lender and they do not make any loans." Yes, China is a lender to the US, in fact the largest lender [1]. Treasures are loans/bonds. Whoever owns them is a lender to the United States. It's economically the same thing as any other nation selling bonds. "They can't foreclose, because no loan exists. All they can do is take their coupons or sell the security to someone else who will do the same." It's the same thing as government debt in all other nations. If you loan money to Greece, you can sell that Greek debt to someone else. The economics of government debt are the same in the US, Canada, and US even if 'how it gets sold' is different. "China can't starve the Treasury of money " China can 'starve' any nation to the extent they are a lender to that nation. China's demand for Treasuries makes up part of the demand curve for Treasuries, along with all the the demand. In just the same way as there is demand for Greek, UK and Canadian bonds. Or stocks. Or corn, or whatever. If China was the only buyer of US Treasuries you can dam well be sure they can 'starve the Treasury' - because if nobody is buying Treasuries, then the government is printing money. "Also worth noting is that with the stroke of a pen Congress and the President acting in concert could restore the Treasury's power to spend money into existence directly." Every nation on Earth can do this. It's called 'printing money'. It's not a new idea, and it has dramatic consequences including hyperinflation. Summary: China is the #1 lender to the US both in Treasuries (and by holding US dollars.) US government debt operates differently, but economically is the same thing as government debt to basically any other nation. The US does have the advantage of 'seignorage' which is to say that because so many people need US dollars to do so many things, that there is a nice bit of 'cushion' in demand for USD, but that's only worth so much. Otherwise it's just like anywhere else: governments loan at a certain rate, or they can tax, or they can print money and see confidence lost in their currency. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_of_the_United_States#/media/File:Composition_of_U.S._Long-Term_Treasury_Debt_2000-2014.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_of_the_United_St...

User23 8y ago
For the benefit of anyone else reading this, I'd like to point out the misconceptions and misinformation above. > China can 'starve' any nation to the extent they are a lender to that nation. China's demand for Treasuries makes up part of the demand curve for Treasuries, along with all the the demand. The Federal Reserve controls short term yields completely through its open market operations desk. It controls long term yields as well, because they are a function of expectations of short term yields. If China, or Russia, or anyone else stops buying treasuries, the Primary Dealers will pick up the slack, and they will always take that deal because no matter what the yields are they make money off it. > If China was the only buyer of US Treasuries you can dam well be sure they can 'starve the Treasury' - because if nobody is buying Treasuries, then the government is printing money. The Federal Reserve, not China, creates reserves every time the Treasury or a member bank asks it to, which is all the time. It's called an elastic money supply. Relatively few reserve notes are actually printed, because there isn't a lot of demand for Federal Reserve Notes compared to demand accounts. >Every nation on Earth can do this. It's called 'printing money'. It's not a new idea, and it has dramatic consequences including hyperinflation. Hyperinflation is a consequence of a collapse in productivity, not of money printing. Some governments turn to printing more money as their money becomes worthless, and there is a feedback loop, but that is a consequence not a cause. Hyperinflation can also occur when the money issuing sovereign effectively loses their sovereignty, fully or partially. > China is the #1 lender to the US both in Treasuries (and by holding US dollars.) The Federal Reserve is the USA's bank, not China. China is just another depositor at the Fed and whether they choose to store their capital account surplus with the USA in a interest free account (reserves) or an interest bearing account (treasuries) is irrelevant to the solvency of the US Treasury. I hope this helped everyone else with an interest in understanding some of the widespread ideologically motivated ("money printing" is a shibboleth) misconceptions in this area.
- sonnyblarney 8y ago
  "I hope this helped everyone else with an interest in understanding some of the widespread ideologically motivated ("money printing" is a shibboleth) misconceptions in this area" I think the opposite is true, I think you're not grasping some basic economic issues and may need to re-look at the situation. None of your responses are in fact responses to my points.
  - User23 8y ago
    I tried to engage with you constructively. It’s too bad I failed.

User23 8y ago

For the benefit of anyone else reading this, I'd like to point out the misconceptions and misinformation above. > China can 'starve' any nation to the extent they are a lender to that nation. China's demand for Treasuries makes up part of the demand curve for Treasuries, along with all the the demand. The Federal Reserve controls short term yields completely through its open market operations desk. It controls long term yields as well, because they are a function of expectations of short term yields. If China, or Russia, or anyone else stops buying treasuries, the Primary Dealers will pick up the slack, and they will always take that deal because no matter what the yields are they make money off it. > If China was the only buyer of US Treasuries you can dam well be sure they can 'starve the Treasury' - because if nobody is buying Treasuries, then the government is printing money. The Federal Reserve, not China, creates reserves every time the Treasury or a member bank asks it to, which is all the time. It's called an elastic money supply. Relatively few reserve notes are actually printed, because there isn't a lot of demand for Federal Reserve Notes compared to demand accounts. >Every nation on Earth can do this. It's called 'printing money'. It's not a new idea, and it has dramatic consequences including hyperinflation. Hyperinflation is a consequence of a collapse in productivity, not of money printing. Some governments turn to printing more money as their money becomes worthless, and there is a feedback loop, but that is a consequence not a cause. Hyperinflation can also occur when the money issuing sovereign effectively loses their sovereignty, fully or partially. > China is the #1 lender to the US both in Treasuries (and by holding US dollars.) The Federal Reserve is the USA's bank, not China. China is just another depositor at the Fed and whether they choose to store their capital account surplus with the USA in a interest free account (reserves) or an interest bearing account (treasuries) is irrelevant to the solvency of the US Treasury. I hope this helped everyone else with an interest in understanding some of the widespread ideologically motivated ("money printing" is a shibboleth) misconceptions in this area.

sonnyblarney 8y ago
"I hope this helped everyone else with an interest in understanding some of the widespread ideologically motivated ("money printing" is a shibboleth) misconceptions in this area" I think the opposite is true, I think you're not grasping some basic economic issues and may need to re-look at the situation. None of your responses are in fact responses to my points.
- User23 8y ago
  I tried to engage with you constructively. It’s too bad I failed.