The estimable Thers has written a couple of posts today about the work of one Victor Davis Hanson. He quotes a post by Mr. Hanson writing that:
Liberals, as are all Americans, are rightly angry over Tibet, but since a dictatorial communist China holds over $1 billion dollars in U,S. government backed bonds..."
I was dumbfounded. I'm no economist, but, like other commenters at the site, I knew the figure of 1 billion was absurdly low. Could Mr. Hanson really not know what a billion dollars is? Does he have no clue what the cost of the war in Iraq is? Does he understand nothing of the budget?
Because Mr. Hanson is off, by a factor of close to five hundred. The U.S.Treasury says that China holds about 495 Billion of such debt. Does Mr Hanson not understand the difference between owing one dollar or owing 500 dollars?
So Mr Hanson is financially challenged. Instead of apologizing for his ignorance, he decided to hide it in a thoroughly dishonest fashion. He has changed the post to which Thers linked, with no indication of a correction. Instead of reading "over $ 1 Billion" the post now reads that "China holds a substantial investment."
It's hard to argue that 493 billion is a substantial investment. It's harder still to believe anything with the Victor Davis Hanson byline.
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