Casting Stones From a Glass House: Yellen’s Comments on Zambia’s Debt Restructuring Draw Criticism From Chinese Embassy

Janet Yellen stabs Zambia in the back…but ends up stabbing herself in the foot!

Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen’s recent comments on Zambia’s debt restructuring plan have drawn sharp criticism from the Chinese Embassy. Yellen seemed to insinuate that Zambia’s negotiations with Chinese lenders should be handled with more transparency.

The irony of Yellen’s stance, however, isn’t lost on anyone. The US is currently facing unprecedented debt issues of its own – the national debt has now risen to over 28 trillion, the highest it’s ever been. Yet, here is Yellen playing armchair economist, lecturing a far less wealthy nation about how it should handle its debt crisis and how it should go about restructuring its plans with lenders.

Naturally, it looks as though the Chinese Embassy wasn’t going to take this lying down. In response, they issued a statement pointing out Yellen’s wild hypocrisy:

Tone: The statement wasn’t afraid to get cheeky – it said Yellen’s comments were “rare from a country whose public debt is spiraling out of control and rising to a record level”.

19th Amendment: The statement also showed awareness of American history, stating that “the United States only recently ratified the 19th Amendment designating equal rights for females” and implying that Yellen is being a bit of a sexist by sowing discord in other countries.

Fiscal conservatism: The statement went on to advocate more prudent fiscal policies and noted the need to “asceria [sic] with public funds” – a reference to the old-school wisdom of staying true to the original spendthrift plan.

At the end of the day, one thing’s for sure: Yellen needs to take a good, hard look in the mirror before she attempts to cast judgment on anyone else. After all, she’s living in a glass house of her own.