Trade flows between the US, European Union and China in one easy graphic...It made my night to find this! Ummm, yes I DO have a life, thank you very much!

       Trade flows between the US, China and the European Union...follow the arrows.  Start in the US. We export to China $69.5 billion worth of goods and services and import from China $296.4 Billion.  The E.U. exports $141.3 billion to China and imports $312.8 Billion from China. The next effect is China is a net gainer in terms of "foreign currency reserves" (see boxed inset below and to the right).  In other words, they have lots of dollars and euros.  Many of those dollars come back to the US to buy our national debt or to purchase other "financial assets", like home mortgages or car loans.  Yes, the Chinese govt may be the actual owner of all/part of your house or car! Strange, but true.  Should we be afraid of this?  If you listen to the politicians right  now campaigning for Congress, you would think so.  My bet is that right after the elections next month, you will hear very little about the Chinese financial threat.  Congress will have start to draw up a new Federal Budget and they are going to need those dollars from the Chinese (and other sources)...Best not to bite, or bite too hard, the hand that feeds you...

Source: The Big Picture Blog