Uh, oh: foreigners stop buying

American investments are becoming less attractive to foreigners (the people who've been propping up our profligate spending and overall economy for the past decade or so).

The government said this week that net purchases of those [long term] securities fell to $412.5 billion in 2008, less than half the 2007 level and the lowest annual total since 1999, when the federal government was running a budget surplus.

And with the Federal Reserve printing money like there's no tomorrow, we're dependent on foreign investment to finance the deficit spending that will hopefully get our economy moving again.

And read this prescient 2000 article on the topic from the World Socialist Web Site.

Hmm.