A late wakeup call...

From the UK's newspaper The Independent:

Citigroup is understood to be putting the finishing touches to an even more ambitious recapitalisation plan. The Kuwaiti government and its largest existing shareholder, the Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal, are among those said to be ready to invest in a $14bn rescue refinancing. The biggest single new investor is likely to be the Chinese government, which has used the financial crisis to snap up large chunks of the US finance industry. Most recently it paid $5bn for a stake in Morgan Stanley, and is also putting $1bn into Bear Stearns.

Sovereign wealth fund investments have so far been broadly welcomed by US politicians, who are more concerned about averting a financial crisis, but the scale of the investments due to be announced in the coming days could reopen a debate about the long-term wisdom of giving foreign governments significant financial leverage over the US financial system.

Worrying about foreign financial leverage might have been appropriate, oh, say, when we started running annual government deficits of $200 billion or more that had to be underwritten by guys like China. After doing that for a generation, the politicos really don't have a leg to stand on, squawking about foreign governments snapping up our private industries as well.

Some people say we're being sold out. They're wrong. It's past tense. The mass-consumption '80s and '90s came by selling ourselves into financial bondage. Should we be surprised when the new masters arrive and announce the party's over?