What is Plan B if China Dumps its U.S. debt?

With the Chinese President's visit to the White House, some experts have begun wondering if government officials have a Plan B in case Beijing decides to dump its holdings of U.S. treasuries.

From Reuters.com:

China is officially the United States' biggest foreign creditor, with roughly $900 billion in Treasury holdings -- or over $1 trillion with Hong Kong's holdings included.

That means it could do severe damage to U.S. debt markets if it suddenly started selling large amounts.

Most experts say if there were signs of this happening, the U.S. government would go for a combination of persuading Americans to buy more U.S. debt, the same way they did in World War II, and finding friendly foreign governments to make additional purchases.

Banks could be called on to increase their holdings of treasuries, and as a last resort, the Federal Reserve could also be called on to fill the gap, though this could risk turning any dollar weakness into a slump.

"The U.S. government should have and maybe still could call on the people of the U.S. to invest in U.S. debt," said David Walker, a former U.S. comptroller general who heads an advocacy group calling on the government to curb the U.S. budget deficit and borrowings.

To be sure, the idea that China would suddenly sell its U.S. debt holdings is almost unimaginable to some.

After all, any weakening in the U.S. debt markets and the resulting global markets turmoil, including likely weakness in the dollar, would bounce back on China and could hurt its economy badly, especially as the United States is such a huge Chinese export market.

Continue reading at Reuters.com...

China Raises US Debt holdings as Others Offload

While other countries are dropping US debt holdings like a hot potato, China and Japan are buying them up. Beijing increased its US holdings to almost $884 billion. Is it time to start learning Mandarin yet?

From Yahoo News:

The United States' top creditor China increased its stockpile of American debt in September, official figures showed on Tuesday, even as other nations slashed their holdings.

Both China and Japan bucked the trend of foreign investors cutting their exposure of US assets.

Overall holdings -- known as net long-term capital inflows in financial jargon -- fell 37 percent from elevated levels in August.

Amid political sensitivities over the level of US bonds held by Beijing, the emerging market giant -- excluding Hong Kong -- increased its holdings by 1.7 percent to nearly 884 billion dollars.

Japan meanwhile raised its Treasury holdings to 865 billion dollars, a more than three percent increase.

"The strong interest in Treasury bonds and notes points to a still-high level of risk aversion in global financial markets," said Tu Packard of Moody's Analytics.

Nation's Soaring Deficit Calls for Painful Choices

From USAToday.com:

Erskine Bowles realized how tough his task will be leading President Obama's war on the federal budget deficit when he told his 90-year-old mother of his appointment.

She was proud of him. Then she said, "Don't mess with my Medicare."

It won't be the last threat Bowles gets this year as he directs an 18-member, bipartisan commission through an ocean of red ink that has never been deeper or more foreboding.

Under Obama's budget plan, the USA's debt in 2020 would be nearly the size of the entire economy then. Interest costs would be $900 billion, five times today's level.

The White House, Congress, budget experts and typical Americans are growing anxious about the nation's mounting debt, which is helping to fuel the rise of the anti-tax, anti-big government Tea Party movement.

Yet the only solutions capable of raising enough money are politically dangerous for the president and Congress: tax increases and major reductions in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.