Adviser Update Summer 2012 | Page 30

P15.V53.I01 black cyan magenta yellow Page 6B SUMMER 2012 The dollar and the dragon By BRANDON TAYLOR Aug. 23, 2011 The “good old days” of America’s endless borrowing are over, or so say Chinese media reiterating the Communist Party’s position following Standard & Poor’s downgrade of America’s AAA credit rating. No longer will America be able to “just borrow its way out of messes of its own making,” said China’s state-run news agency Xinhua and a slew of other Chinese publications. The ensuing dips in financial markets around the world following the rating agency’s decision only emboldened the Chinese government to press America to address its fiscal irresponsibility and “addiction to debt,” according to Xinhua. America’s downgrade came as no surprise. After a drawn out back-and-forth of political theatrics, the plan that finally arose did little to assuage investor