Obama to China: Don't Worry, Be Happy

Has U.S. overconsumption gone too far? We've already seen the effects in the domestic stock markets, and it might be starting to manifest itself in the international money markets too. The New York Times' cover follows an early morning story from Friday with more details about Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's concerns with U.S. consumption and debt levels. "To be honest, I am definitely a little worried," Wen said in a news conference at the end of the Chinese parliament's annual session. It was the highest level warning yet from the Chinese government, and the Wall Street Journal writes that "the premier's comments were unusually pointed and raised the possibility that Beijing's appetite for U.S. debt could wane. ... In the worst-case scenario, a significant new aversion to U.S. investments could drive down the dollar and drive up interest rates, worsening the U.S. recession." The Washington Post finds Eswar Prasad of the Brookings Institution to interpret the remarks. "These comments are saber-rattling in the sense that they are using that leverage to tell the U.S. to back off on currency policy and trade policy."

But don't fear, because U.S. administration damage control boats are on patrol. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs gets wide pick-up for his reassurance that "there is no safer investment in the world than in the United States." National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers gave a speech in which the New York Times reports him calling for "more optimism and more confidence." The Wall Street Journal cites his reminder that "if you don't prime the pump and you allow the processes of decay and decline and de-leveraging to continue, it's much more costly to do it later."

G20 finance ministers are meeting this weekend in London to consider collective responses to the financial crisis, and many of the issues pit Europe against the United States. The New York Times reports that the Japanese government would have another stimulus package ready by the time of the main G20 leaders' summit in April, putting it in the "pro-stimulus" camp, with the United States but against some European countries. (The Wall Street Journal reports on experienced international economic hand Ted Truman joining Treasury to help Secretary Timothy Geithner with some of these issues.)

But there are a number of competing G20 agenda items. One is offshore tax havens, and on this point Switzerland is changing its ways—sort of. The country known for providing secret banking services announced on Friday that it would adopt the definition of tax evasion used by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, although the Swiss Bankers' Association reiterated that "the privacy of foreign clients not under suspicion will continue to be protected." Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz, who is also the finance minister, said "there will be no automatic exchange of information." Meanwhile, Bloomberg News reports that dealing with toxic bank assets remains a primary concern. Finally, the Wall Street Journal focuses on hedge fund regulation, reporting that "several European countries want the funds to be overseen similarly to banks, while U.S. and U.K. officials favor more disclosure over more regulation."

Bernard Madoff gave in and gave up on Thursday, but he probably hoped he wouldn't be sent directly to jail. As part of his efforts in court on Friday to be free pending his June sentencing, he had to reveal a bit more of the wealth behind the fraud. Apparently, there's around $825 million in assets, almost all of it tied up in his wealth management firm, according to the Wall Street Journal, with the rest "in baubles any wealthy man is likely to collect," such as his properties and a Steinway piano. Meanwhile, New York Times columnist Joe Nocera spends some time with Madoff victims and experts and comes to a pretty controversial conclusion: Madoff's best accomplices were his victims, because they failed to heed "the first lesson of personal finance," namely "that you should never put all your money with one person or one fund".

In the Los Angeles Times, Patrick Goldstein steps into the News Corp. boardroom to assess Rupert Murdoch's latest executive shuffle. He showers praise on Fox Searchlight's Peter Rice, named to head the Fox TV network: "Murdoch is a gambler. ... As anyone in the media game will tell you, the network TV model is broken ... radical change is needed. That's what Rice is there to provide." But in the end, the top job will stay in Murdoch family hands, since, in Goldstein's words, "News Corp. is still the equivalent of a Middle Eastern dictatorship."