So much for China’s communism.
The editorial by Xinhua, China’s official news agency, in response to the downgrading of the United States’ debt rating reads like a neoliberal manifesto.
Extracts:
“The days when the debt-ridden Uncle Sam could leisurely squander unlimited overseas borrowing appeared to be numbered.
“China, the largest creditor of the world's sole superpower, has every right now to demand the United States to address its structural debt problems
“To cure its addiction to debts, the United States has to reestablish the common sense principle that one should live within its means.
“Thus, if no substantial cuts were made to the US gigantic military expenditure and bloated social welfare costs, [this] downgrade would prove to be only a prelude to more devastating rating cuts, which will further roil the global financial markets all along the way.
“Moreover, the spluttering world economic recovery would be very likely to be undermined and fresh rounds of financial turmoil could come back to haunt us all.
“The US has to come to terms with the painful fact that the good old days when it could just borrow its way out of messes of its own making are finally gone.
“It should also stop its old practice of letting its domestic electoral politics take the global economy hostage and rely[ing] on the deep pockets of major surplus countries to make up for its perennial deficits.
“A little self-discipline would not be too uncomfortable for the United States, the world's largest economy and issuer of international reserve currency, to bear.”
