I agree, this was a trial balloon to gauge reaction.
And the fact that the White House actually had to SAY they weren;t going to do this means that “Trial Balloon” blew up in there faces.
If they dared to do this, there would be riots in the streets. THIS is the issue that triggered the Tea Parties, if you remember.
Yeah, if US has investments on the books in these guys, not the smartest thing in the world to just tell them to toss away a big piece of it willy nilly. More taxes, deeper debt, deeper deficit — a three sided devil. We want none of it.