Misled By Meaningless Facts
7 December 2007
Editor, The Baltimore Sun
To the Editor:
Thomas Schaller favorably quotes economist Joseph Stiglitz's concern that "Cumulative borrowing from abroad during the six years of the Bush administration amounts to some $5 trillion" ("On economy, GOP candidates offer up slogans instead of solutions," December 5).
Regardless of this debt's merits or demerits, what is the relevance of creditors' nationalities? Whether the creditors are in Utah or Ukraine, Baltimore or Beijing, the debt must be repaid. And THAT is the burden of the debt; the nationalities of creditors are irrelevant.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, The Baltimore Sun
To the Editor:
Thomas Schaller favorably quotes economist Joseph Stiglitz's concern that "Cumulative borrowing from abroad during the six years of the Bush administration amounts to some $5 trillion" ("On economy, GOP candidates offer up slogans instead of solutions," December 5).
Regardless of this debt's merits or demerits, what is the relevance of creditors' nationalities? Whether the creditors are in Utah or Ukraine, Baltimore or Beijing, the debt must be repaid. And THAT is the burden of the debt; the nationalities of creditors are irrelevant.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Thursday May 15, 2008 at 12:16pm