Euro denominated assets are a possibility, though there's not really something such as a European treasury bill. But, even then, do you really want to put all your eggs in the euro basket when the future of the currency itself looks shaky, much more shaky than it did six months ago? Can you be confident that the euro will be around 15 years from now? As for British pounds, Swiss francs, you can buy those, but just not in the vast quantities that China needs given the cash it generates. And, of course, if China were to stop buying treasuries, remember the value of the yuan would rise. Chinese exports would become more expensive. Employment in China would fall. So, at the very moment, China's bloggers and state-run media were blasting the U.S. government. Guess what Beijing was doing? It was buying U.S. treasuries. The reality is that China is trapped in a cycle of buying our T bonds. No matter what any ratings agency says, no other bond market is as big or as safe for China. So ignore all those theories about China doing America a huge favor. The reality is they have nowhere else to go. We're probably doing them a favor. And by the way, in terms of who is paying whom, data from the Congressional Budget Office shows that the U.S. pays out some $74 million to China in interest payments on debt everyday. That means Washington is paying Beijing $833 every second.