[GOPJ]

... late 80s is that Russian oil production hit an all-time peak. This coincided with new oil provinces coming on stream in the West ... this suddenly made oil very cheap on the world markets. Soviet revenues plummeted, but their appetite for imported goods remained unchanged, and so they sank deeper and deeper into debt. ... Once international lenders balked at making further loans, it was game over.

The Chinese are "balking" now... if they take over the as the world' s "reserve currency" holders , we'll never be able to print our way out of debt again. In short, we'll be a poor country.

If printing money was the answer, why don't Haitians do it?

[palmer]

The Chinese are "balking" now... if they take over the as the world' s "reserve currency" holders , we'll never be able to print our way out of debt again.

Despite their noises to the contrary and popular belief, the Chinese are on our side in wanting an inflationary boom (or if you are in the BB camp, sustained growth spurred by greater availability of credit). Their crony capitalism feeds off of our real capitalism. To some extent their diligence and proficiency at copying needs our creativity and innovation. Due to this convergence of interests they continue to happily play along with our games of propping up the dollar (or if you are in the BB camp, our pursuasion of other central bankers to unfreeze credit and spur demand).