 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
China cements place as top creditor to US: Treasury
Washington (AFP) March 17, 2009 China consolidated its position as the top creditor to the United States, wiht 739.6 billion dollars in US Treasury bond holdings as of late January, US government data showed. The US Treasury Department released the monthly figure at a sensitive time, less than a week after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao expressed concern about the fate of Chinese investments in the United States. It marked growth from 727.4 billion dollars of Chinese-held Treasury bonds at the end of December and was up from the 492.6 billion dollars China held in January 2008, according to the Treasury statistics. While that year-on-year figure represents a sharp increase, much of it was down to big rises in September and October. China has been the biggest holder of US Treasury bonds since September last year, when it overtook Japan for the first time ever, according to US data. However, it issued its most high-level note of alarm yet last Friday when Wen admitted to being worried about China's massive investments in US debt. "We have lent huge amounts of money to the United States. Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets," he told a press conference here. US President Barack Obama later responded with an assurance that "not just the Chinese government, but every investor can have absolute confidence in the soundness of investments in the United States." Lawrence Summers, director of the White House's National Economic Council, denied Sunday that US Treasury bonds might lose their "AAA" rating from credit agencies because of the economic crisis. Japan remained the second-largest holder of US debt at the end of January, with 634.8 billion dollars, up from 626.0 billion at the end of December, the Treasury statistics showed. US Treasury bonds are a preferred investment vehicle for China's government as it seeks safe and reliable ways to place its nearly two trillion dollars of foreign exchange reserves. Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links The Economy
Commentary: Karl Marx redux
Washington (UPI) Mar 16, 2009 Political science majors can be forgiven for recycling Karl Marx's prediction, made 160 years ago, that capitalism would sow the seeds of its own destruction by widening the gap between workers and "capitalists." Since the end of the Cold War and the defeat of communism 20 years ago, boardroom-authorized CEO emoluments in the Fortune 100 have gone from 40 times to 300 times factory-floor wages. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook