Bush's Achilles' heel?

CBS.Marketwatch.com ^ | January 15, 2005 | Gregory Robb,

[Trueredstater]

WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) - The fact the United States is the world's largest debtor nation is a dark cloud looming over President Bush's second term.

While some economists suggest the cloud could produce a violent storm, others are less concerned. Regardless, the huge U.S. indebtedness and how the White House deals with it will be a pivotal issue over the next four years.

"Global imbalances are the major economic problem facing the world today," says Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard professor and former International Monetary Fund chief economist.

[Non-Sequitur]

Do you really trust China?

You're asking the wrong people, since the U.S. isn't the one investing overseas or buying much of our own debt for that matter. A huge percentage of our debt is sold overseas so you have to ask Japan and Europe and India if they are comforable investing in China. What if they decide the answer is "Yes"?

[ChadGore]

Pssst. The deficit is shrinking.

[LS]

What if they answer yes? Then I answer "Bwa-hahahahahah."

Then they have as much sense as those who poured money into Japan because it was the "next rising economy" in the 1980s.

If there is one lesson economic history teaches, it is that closed societies cannot equal, let alone overtake, free economies. They can attract money---just as we put money into the USSR (Coke, Ford)---but they cannot make that money productive, and the profits always leave. Money will only go where it is wanted, and stay where it is appreciated. And a nation shows appreciation for money by multiplying it through productivity increases.

[LS]

I agree that immigration is the biggest issue facing us; but I disagree that it will in any way affect Bush. The public already rendered a decision that Bush's second term was about terrorism, Iraq, and SS. It will be up to the 2008 candidates to deal with this. It is THEIR Achilles heel if they do not.