And out of their league.
Or at least, that's the impression I got after reading
this story.
The most telling quote in the whole piece was this one:
"Chinese assets are very safe," Geithner said in response to a question after a speech at Peking University, where he studied Chinese as a student in the 1980s.
His answer drew loud laughter from his student audience, reflecting skepticism in China about the wisdom of a developing country accumulating a vast stockpile of foreign reserves instead of spending the money to raise living standards at home.
I flashed back to my college days long ago. What this reminds me of more than anything else, really, is all of the credit card companies passing out *free* credit cards to the idiots on campus who'd take them up on it.
And what Geithner and the O-messiah strike me the most are that they are like a couple of frat boys, flush with their new found popularity on campus and overspent on those *free* credit cards. And that the ongoing discussions with the ChiComs are exactly like those discussions way back when with the frat boy's parents....
"Yes, I know I went over the limit, but it will never happen again!"
"
Promise!"
"If you just help me pay this one off I'll watch my spending next semester...."
Yeah, right.