It is China’s own actions that lead to the U.S. borrowing that it is complaining about.

As soon as I read the news that the new Chinese stealth fighter might have been reverse-engineered from an F-117 Nighthawk shot down during the NATO bombing of Serbia, I wondered the same thing implied (though not explicitly stated) in this Fox News piece: did we bomb the Chinese embassy because they were actively collecting parts and information on the plane?

Immelt and GE aren’t about building the jobs American needs (for graphic representation of that, see this post). Rather, they’re about transforming the fruits of American manufacturing into yet more destabilizing casino games.

No matter how many times GE’s CEO Jeff Immelt gets up on a podium or in an op-ed and feigns an interest in American jobs, his actions make him the poster child for everything wrong with the U.S. economy right now.

And that’s what Obama is rolling out, as he moves into campaign mode, to convince Americans he’s going to do a damn thing about jobs.

There’s always a lot of tut-tutting when the White House releases the list of people who attend a state dinner. While a lot of that, for the dinner honoring Hu Jintao tonight, has to do with which members of Congress have blown off invites (John Boehner, Harry Reid, and Mitch McConnell, though McConnell’s wife Elaine Chao will attend with her father), I’m rather interested in who will attend from the auto industry.

I welcome seeing China pressured on human rights – the media at the press conference today did its job on that front – but the trade announcements were essentially band-aids to make it look like China is cooperating on rebalancing the trade relationship legitimately. As the executive director for the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), Scott Paul, explained, “The state visit did little to change the underlying dynamic of the dysfunctional U.S.-China economic relationship. Business deals, while important, are no substitute for firm commitments from China to stop its currency manipulation and to end its illegal subsidies of industry. And they are no substitute for clearly defined consequences if China fails to make progress.”

If, as Robert Kuttner says, Obama is negotiating a a “grand bargain” with the Republicans that includes cuts to Social Security benefits, the GOP is running a successful trap for him once again. White House strategist apparently believe that this will “give Obama ‘credit’ for getting serious about deficit reduction.’”

A highlight of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ non-filibuster last Friday were his comments on General Electric’s CEO Jeff Immelt, who is pushing for more business located in China.

To say that China’s reaction to one of its countrymen winning the Nobel Peace Prize was less than celebratory would be an understatement. After all, he does sit in a jail 300 miles outside of Beijing.

A partial victory for the Obama Administration Saturday in advance of the G-20 meetings, as the Chinese government agreed to allow a “flexible” exchange rate for its currency. This does not necessarily translate to a full-scale appreciation of the renminbi relative to the dollar, but it could down the road.