Back in the early stages of the financial crisis, wags joked that our trade with China had turned out to be fair and balanced after all: They sold us poison toys and tainted seafood; we sold them fraudulent securities.
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China now owns so many dollars that it can’t sell them off without driving the dollar down and triggering the very capital loss its leaders fear.
Krugman in the Times
That's the metaphor for this speed bump in the global economy. A tiger by the tail. One of Krugman's best.