During Wednesday's debate, Mitt Romney said several times that he opposed "borrowing from China" to fund U.S. government programs.
It's an effective meme for Republican pols, appealing to Birchers and other far-right conspiracists, former and current manufacturing workers and their families, and many other voters who would prefer to buy consumer products made in the USA rather than in Red China, if they could find them.
But it is essentially a lie.
Romney only mentioned two programs specifically -- the Affordable Care Act and PBS -- but said generally that all programs have to meet the Romney test -- "Is the program so critical that it's worth borrowing money from China to pay for it?"
U.S. Treasury bonds are extraordinarily safe investments, bought by institutions and individuals for that safety, mostly right here in the USA.
Like the No. 1 holder -- the Social Security Trust Fund that workers have been higher taxes into for almost 30 years, to buy bonds that will help ensure Social Security benefits well into the 2030s.
More, below.
The current U.S. budget is about $3.6 trillion, with a deficit of about $1.2 trillion.
So any government program is roughly two-thirds supported by tax revenue and one-third supported by borrowing.
Which, in our current situation, was necessary to avoid turning the Great Recession into the Second Depression via austerity.
But hardly any new U.S. debt is "borrowed from China"; in fact, China has reduced its holdings of U.S. bonds from $1.314 trillion in mid-2011 to $1.169 trillion in mid-2012.
Romney told so many lies in the debate Obama was clearly dumbfounded, and unsure of how to respond appropriately.
The "borrowing from China" lie was presumably one of the scripted zingers Romney worked so hard on.
He delivered the lie with confidence, and got away with it.
AFAIK, from a Google search of "Romney borrowing from China," no one in the corporate media has challenged the "borrowing from China" lie.
It's not that hard to find out that China holds less that 10 percent of U.S. debt, has been decreasing its holdings lately, and therefore we are not "borrowing from China" anymore.
If I can do it, the corporate media can, too.
If they're allowed to.
