A Tale Of Two Cities

In Washington DC:

"Awash in red ink, the federal government has torn up its credit card to keep the national debt under the legal $7.384 trillion ceiling... It would be the third hike in four years as the federal debt has risen by $1.8 trillion since 2000. In that time, federal finances have also swung from a $127 billion budget surplus to the $413 billion deficit for the 2004 fiscal year."

In Beijing:

"China's foreign trade was back in the black in the first three quarters of 2004 and the foreign investment inflow also enjoyed steady growth.

Exports rose 35.3 per cent to US$416.24 billion and imports surged 38.2 per cent to US$412.31 billion in the first nine months of this year, resulting in a trade surplus of almost $4 billion.

The first four months of the year saw a trade deficit of US$10.95 billion for China, but five consecutive monthly surpluses helped swing the nation's foreign trade back into a small surplus for the overall period. "