[UnderseaLcpl]

Trump is a businessman, not an economic expert. The fact that many goods used in the US are now manufactured in China means precisely nothing important from anything other than a strategic standpoint, and even that is dubious. Where goods are manufactured is not nearly as important as who owns the companies that make them, and who is making what for whom.

The amount of Public debt that China holds is of some concern to us. IMO,as the Federal government has long since passed the point of no return when it comes to borrowing from other nations, and even our own nation. There is absolutely no way we will ever pay back what we owe, a prediction evidenced by the US government's particularly terrible record of paying people back. Ever buy a federal bond? I hope not, because the vast majority of bonds, once capital gains tax and inflation are factored in, end up costing people money for the dubious priviledge of lending money to the government.

Obama's own economists have advised against the rampant spending he has been advocating. That's saying something when one considers that they are Keynesians, who believe that massive government spending is necessary to stimulate an capitalist economy from time to time, on the assumption that increased tax revenue from the resultant prospeirty will pay it back. The administration ignores even them, however, and stays the course.

This leads me to one of two conclusions; either the US government is planning to stiff the Chinese nation and the American people in a brilliant financial coup, or they just don't give a crap. Personally, I think the latter is the more likely, as the government has clearly demonstrated an ability to manipulate fiscal policy for the good of anyone in like,......never, but it has demonstrated the ability to screw everything up for political reasons and then pass the cost on to everyone who trusted it on a fairly consistent basis.

What I see as the most probable course of action is that the US will continue to sell debt for as long as it can before it resorts to just printing tons of money and then just defaults on everything and pisses the rest of the world off. It won't be by design, and the result won't be good for anyone but politicians.

Skybird is correct in saying that US debt is being marginalized by inflation. That's been a favorite tactic of governments the world over for the entire span of human history- "I owe you one million units of currency? Very well, let me just cut these five-hundred gold coins in half and arbitrarily assign their former value to them. I'm sure it will hold."

Trump, however, is completely wrong in assuming that the US is the stupid one when it comes to the US-China relationship. China doesn't know it yet, but they're just buying an illusion of wealth that will eventually vanish. I have no idea what kind of long-range plans (if any) that the US government has, but one way or another, China is going to get stiffed. We've seen this so many times before. It just amazes me that nobody who matters has learned (or cares about) the lesson yet.

No matter what the intention is, the US is on the fast track to financial ruin, and China and a lot of the rest of the world is clinging to a sinking ship. Federal Reserve Notes mean nothing without a strong market to back them up, and Obama's administration seems hell-bent on destroying everything that makes a strong market work.

Unless the Republicans come back in the 2010 and 2012 elections with a strong plan for fiscal reform that they actually carry out for once, the US is on a steep slope to massive economic failure that will probably last for at least a decade, and likely even longer. My advice is to trade against the dollar but avoid currencies whose nations are heavily dependant upon exports to the US.