John, an American negotiator is on his way to the regularly scheduled
meeting with the usual trade partners, China, Japan, several EU
countries. He enters the room where the other are waiting, talking
about the latest stock market fluctuations.

He sits down.

"Look guys, we're going to need to borrow another 100 billion dollars.
This war in Iraq is turning out to be a lot more expensive than we
expected".

A silence falls. Everybody looks serious.

The chinese delegate says "You know, you owe us a lot of money already,
we were wondering if it was getting a bit much and maybe we should stop
until you start paying it off properly".

John's heart stops. Visions flash through his mind, millions of
government workers not getting paid. Projects axed. Unpaid workers are
unhappy workers, and they can't buy anything either. What about
mortgages that need to be paid? These are not good things.

Sweat beads on his forehead.

"Just kidding!" says the Chinese delegate, everybody laughs. "We're not
that kind of people, we like you very much." He pulls out the
chequebook. "So, 20% interest sounds good to me..."
--

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