China goes on a US buying spree. But are Americans too fat to bow? (Yes.)

Anyone who attended U.S. schools will attest to the fact that usually you only have two options when it comes to learning a foreign language: It's either Spanish or French (or maybe Latin, if you are a nerd), and the actual "learning", if it happens at all, doesn't begin until the 7th or 8th grade.

We distinctly recall our 8th grade French teacher whispering under his breath, "We should be teaching these poor bastards Chinese."

Obama, paying his respects

Yes, or in Asian Overlord Language, Shì:

One of America's oldest stock exchanges has just been sold to China. The 134-year-old Chicago Stock Exchange reached a deal on Friday to be acquired by a Chinese-led group of investors. The purchase by Chongqing Casin Enterprise Group is the latest U.S. investment made by China and would give the country a foothold in the vast American stock market.

This is not surprising. China has been buying up U.S. assets like a scooter-bound diabetic on a soda-buying spree at Costco. Yesterday Barron's reported that China has its sights on U.S. manufacturers:

China has started to display a hankering for U.S. and European assets. They’ve made a record $17 billion in offers through Feb. 5, according to Dealogic, bidding on companies producing a range of products—appliances, cranes, chemicals. One large, motivated buyer could be all it takes to make the industrial sector the belle of the ball.

But wait, there's so much more. In October, a Chinese investment firm shelled out $1.3 billion to buy giant oil fields in Texas, reflecting growing interest from China in U.S. energy resources.

We will end with this somewhat foreboding quote from Bloomberg:

“If you have a U.S. stock exchange that’s primarily satisfying Chinese companies, the regulators are gonna look very closely at it,” Coulson said. “If your core business is listing Chinese companies in the U.S., that’s going to pick up a lot of regulatory scrutiny and caution.”

Time to drop French class?