Wen Jiabao

Image by World Economic Forum via Flickr

25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis - TIME:

If cheap credit was the crack cocaine of this financial crisis — and it was — then China was one of its primary dealers. China is now the largest creditor to the U.S. government, holding an estimated $1.7 trillion in dollar-denominated debt. That massive build-up in dollar holdings is specifically linked to China's efforts to control the value of its currency. China didn't want the renminbi to rise too rapidly against the dollar, in part because a cheap currency kept its export sector humming — which it did until U.S. demand cratered last fall."

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