Davos Newbies

Maybe my recollection is poor, but I don’t think the word “China” even came up in either the first presidential debate (on foreign affairs) or tonight’s vice-presidential debate. I agree that Pakistan is a crucial issue, and the Middle East is a constant geopolitical concern for the US. But surely the paramount geopolitical issue of this century is the US relationship with China. Shouldn’t candidates be asked about this?

Just saying.

From Andrew Leonard:

On Jan. 20, 1993, the day Bill Clinton was inaugurated, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 3,241, the national debt was 4 trillion, and the unemployment rate was 7.3 percent. After eight years of Clintonomics, on Jan. 20, 2001, when George Bush took office, the Dow had reached 10,588, the national debt was 5.7 trillion, and the unemployment rate was 4.2 percent.

Today, the Dow closed at 10,482, the unemployment rate is 6.1 percent (and possibly higher tomorrow), and the national debt, this very week, crossed $10 trillion.

The biggest surprise of the VP debate was that it was so unsurprising. I thought Biden was very, very good and Palin, although a bit scripted, did well given her shocking interviews of the last few weeks. It was pretty boring, in fact.

Update Of course Palin lied relentlessly. But what else could she do? That certainly wasn’t a surprise to me.

Tyler Cowen on why he thinks the Chinese will maintain their dollar holdings:

Bush, Bernanke, Paulson — we call them leaders.  The Chinese think of them as the customer service department.  I suspect the Chinese get straighter answers from them than we ever do.