AMERICA GETS ITS CREDIT RATING DOCKED. CHINA FUSSES.

UNCLE SAM 

IS 

SPENDTHRIFT 

GRANDPA WEN THROWS UP 

HIS HANDS 

Okay, the first authoritative word from Beijing after Standard and Poor's downgraded the U.S. sovereign debt came not from Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, "Grandpa Wen," (above), but from Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency. 

But Premier Wen expressed concern about "the security of our assets" -- all those U.S. Treasuries China has bought -- back in March 2009 already. 

The new Xinhua editorial follows in the same vein:  "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 and ensure the safety of China’s dollar assets." 

And oh, yes, they would like us to cut back on the social safety net and the military. 

How handy for China, the rising power, if the "world's sole superpower" hobbles itself. 

Not unlike what al Qaeda hopes to see. 

On bad days, I fear they are getting what they wish for. 

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