now seriously

Chinese Are Likely to Halt Purchases of U.S. Treasury Debt

As long as China remains a more export based economy as opposed to a more consumption based economy it will have to continue to buy equity in other economies - no matter they be Treasuries or foreign oil fields the result is much the same (and they both rise and fall in value). Exchanging goods for promises, which when put back to work will turn into investments. Shades of Japan circa 1970s (that Pebble Beach wasn't too smart).
China is no fool, they are going to hold onto the export side as long as possible to enlarge the participation of their people into the economy (the great middle class). They also realize that they will become more consumption base, how they do that and stay competitive is what they're working at now (it's not the USA after WWII after all, they're in a more different world, and they no doubt saw Japan's problems and want to ensure as their economy evolves it does not have a similar experience).
As for the USA doing anything other than honoring Treasuries that won't happen. It may be with inflated dollars - through not hyperinflation.
Take China's leadership recent comments for what it does best: more positioning than action.

Would Trickle-Down Policies Really Help All Americans?

I could not agree more with you gramps2. Mr. Thoma should take this somewhere where people want to read the babble. And since its a cut & paste from thinkprogress.org he should have just left it there! Are we going to have to listen to all this cut and paste babble from those that find more joy in disrespecting (and misquote) the other side's guy, than promoting the views and positions of their own guy!

The Great MasterCard - Visa Debates

"the processing fees of 1 to 4 percent that are paid directly to MasterCard and Visa" ... You are so far off base here. These fees are paid to the banks by the merchants, not Visa or Mastercard. The banks have an agreement between them on how a fee collected by a Merchant's bank is "shared" with the Cardholder's Bank. Beyond the obvious profit motive, these fees are reduce the risk to the banks for credit card fraud (or did you think they were really just assuming that libility).

From Housing to Employment: We're in Big Trouble

Yes, and if the 10 mile wide metor drops from the sky, then ...

This is more a "faith" based post than a real economic discussion. The basic premise that every commodity will rapidly rise as wages drop (homes too, and stocks I guess, since those are owned by John Q Public) substantially underscore this author misunderstanding of economics.

I cannot find one statement in this whole article that I - or I would say anyonbe with a basic understanding of economics - would agree with.