Governor Pawlenty was in full 2012 campaign mode this morning when he told MinnPost’s Doug Grow that government-issued Treasury bonds would, in his assessment, soon be as worthless as the toxic mortgage assets.

Secretary of State Clinton, in China about a week ago, [was] publicly pleading with the Chinese to buy our debt, because the federal government is now so reliant on debt financing that the point at which China or sovereign wealth funds or others discontinue buying the federal debt, the house of cards they have constructed in Washington DC comes tumbling down. They’re going to have the government debt equivalent, some years from now, of today’s mortgage crisis, in my opinion.

For someone who seems so concerned about debt financing at the federal level, Governor Pawlenty doesn’t seem to mind using debt to pay off today’s bills here in Minnesota.

Oh, and Governor, U.S. Treasury bonds are a good investment, particularly in this economy where there are few guaranteed returns.   As for why China should keep buying our debt… didn’t they teach you about the interconnectedness of the global economy at foreign policy school?

(via TPM)