"'Heads of State' is how Bloomberg described it this morning on the radio. Chinese president Hu Jintao is here in the US to meet with such important heads of state as Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, national security adviser Tom Donilon ... "

Blankfein, Dimon, Attending White House State Dinner

Mr. Steven Ballmer, Microsoft, Redmond, WA
Mrs. Connie Ballmer

Mr. Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs, New York, NY
Mrs. Laura Blankfein

Mr. Greg Brown, Motorola, Schaumburg, IL
Mrs. Anna-Louise Brown

The Honorable Dr. Zbigniew Brezezinski, McLean, VA
Mrs. Emilie A. Brzezinski

Mr. Robert Iger, The Walt Disney Company, Burbank, CA
Ms. Willow Bay

Mr. David Ignatius, The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.
Dr. Eve Ignatius

Mr. Jeff Immelt, General Electric, Fairfield, CT
Mrs. Andrea Immelt

Mr. Muhtar Kent, Coca-Cola, Atlanta, GA

The Honorable Henry Kissinger, New York, NY
Mrs. Nancy Kissinger

Mr. Robert King, UAW, Detroit, MI
Ms. Julie Kushner

Mr. Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times, Scarsdale, NY
Ms. Sheryl WuDunn

Ms. Ellen Kullman, DuPont, Wilmington, DE
Mr. Michael Kullman

Mr. Andrew N. Liveris, The Dow Chemical Company, Midland, MI
Mrs. Paula Liveris

Mr. W. James McNerney, The Boeing Company, Chicago, IL
Mrs. Haity McNerney

Ms. Azita Raji, JP Morgan Securities, Inc., Belvedere, CA
Mr. Gary Syman

Mr. David M. Rubenstein, The Carlyle Group, Washington, D.C.
Mrs. Alice Rubenstein

Ms. Barbra Streisand, Malibu, CA
Mr. James Brolin

Mr. Luis Ubinas, The Ford Foundation, New York, NY
Dr. Deborah Tolman

Ms. Anna Wintour, Vogue Magazine, New York, NY
Mr. Shelby Bryan

Ms. Patricia A. Woertz, Archer Daniels Midland, Decatur, IL
Mr. Kelvin R. Westbrook

And that's just a sampling of your "heads of state" corporatist elites (who have no interest in free markets btw). Nope. Nothing to see here. Move along.

China Softens the Ground Before Hu Visit, with $$$ for Corporate Elite

A Chinese trade mission has signed $600 million in deals with U.S. companies ahead of President Hu Jintao's visit to Washington this week.

China frequently announces such deals in connection with high-profile foreign trips by its leaders.

Deals announced during Hu's trip are expected to be total the billions. It's not exactly free markets in operation, when deals are announced around political trips, but it sure does advance the Chinese government agenda.

Hmmmm ... Why were those corporate well-doers on that dinner guest list again?

President Hu Jintao was simply here to visit his money. We owe him a lot, you know. Oh and btw, he really likes the yuan.

Yuan Into a Global Currency

Chinese President Hu Jintao emphasized the need for cooperation with the U.S. in areas from new energy to space ahead of his visit to Washington this week, but he called the present U.S. dollar-dominated currency system a "product of the past" and highlighted moves to turn the yuan into a global currency.

Mr. Hu also offered a veiled criticism of efforts by the U.S. Federal Reserve to stimulate growth through huge bond purchases to keep down long-term interest rates, a strategy that China has loudly complained about in the past as fueling inflation in emerging economies, including its own.

Mr. Hu reiterated China's belief that the crisis reflected "the absence of regulation in financial innovation" and the failure of international financial institutions "to fully reflect the changing status of developing countries in the world economy and finance." He called for an international financial system that is more "fair, just, inclusive and well-managed."

Mr. Hu, who also heads China's ruling Communist Party, rarely interacts with the international media ...

Yeah, you read that correctly. Communist.

What else has China been up too? Oh, yeah ... "China also played a role in restructuring global governance. It was actively involved in the G20 summit and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting and has remained committed to steering the global economic and financial system in a more balanced direction."

So much for "defeating communism," eh? We owe them so much money now, we roll out the red carpet instead.