I sort of get it now. Part of this China thing. So they take all that money they earn from making us the things we use and they want the best return on their investment, so what do they do? They buy US Treasury Bonds. Huh? That's like the crappiest, yet most secure place to put your money. But think about it. Buying these bonds is essentially giving the US a huge loan. Floods the US market with capital. Supply goes up, prices go down. Interest rates, that is. It's like when coke prices dropped in Nairobi recently everyone suspects it has to do with a bunch of seized blow that the cops probably leaked out. So anyway, people can borrow more and so they have more money to spend and buy more crap from China. Geeeenius.