U.S.
debt is 'safe.' Seriously. Stop laughing By Bill Powell, Fortune
contributor
Following
a speech at Peking University on his first trip to China as
Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner was asked to share his thoughts
about the safety of Chinese investments in the United States.
They are "VERY safe," he quickly asserted.
At which point the audience burst out laughing. Apparently,
the audience was amused not only by the answer's substance,
but by the flat "don't worry your little young heads
about it" certainty with which Geithner insisted that
China's U.S. debt holdings were A-OK. Because as even a group
of Chinese college kids understood, that's just not as clear
as the Treasury Secretary insisted it was.