U.S. dependence on foreign creditors: A long-term problem

This article from The Wall Street Journal discusses world governments' responsibility to slowly wean their economies from the exorbitant stimuli that have been inserted by unwitting policymakers. From the article:

He said the U.S. must work together with its international partners to enact changes to the system, and that the U.S. must be seen to be leading the way.
"We have to be able to set the international agenda on reforms ... because we can't have a system without a level playing field," Mr. Geithner said.

This implies that the benevolent, egalitarian politicians in Washington are the only group on the face of the earth who are fully trustworthy or intelligent enough to lay the foundation for reforms to the global financial system. Add this to the countless numbers of foregone conclusions that predate it.

But, I have a question: Why is there a global financial system and why is the U.S. its overseer? Our central bank and our treasury forced the hand on the collapse so that gives us the power now to lead the charge on all reforms to the system? I'm failing to see how this is a logical, let alone intelligent, solution. In fact, why is America involved at all in global-anything? This just makes me wonder: How many dollars in foreign aid has the U.S. sent abroad since October 2008? China is bankrolling our good deeds to the world and anything they can't cover the American taxpayer is doling out, without their knowledge in virtually every case, I might add.

Back to the main topic here... Seriously, the U.S. is on its last leg at this point as far as credibility goes. How can anyone trust Geithner when he says that we're committed to a strong dollar while it drops to 15-month lows literally as he's addressing audiences in Asia? China is calling for us to take action on the dollar and India just purchased half of the IMF's gold reserves in anticipation of currency devaluations, notably the US dollar.

Here is the list of major creditors of the US.

The fact is that if foreign nations do not buy our bonds the U.S. government would collapse just like Iceland's and they would get nothing for the papers they're holding in their hands. Do you notice that while China hovers around $800B in debt holdings they continue to buy gold mines in South America, build stadiums in Africa in exchange for oil drilling rights, and in general investing in raw materials in their own nation as well as overseas? Obviously they're catching on to the game. So, while their right hand is moving U.S. treasuries, their left hand is grasping for security anywhere it can be found. An $800B hit to the pocketbook will hurt a lot less if you've got huge gold and silver reserves, state-owned oil drilling operations and a more advanced solar power initiative than the U.S. China sees the writing on the wall.

We're only getting half the story from our government and traditional media doesn't follow it like I think they should or could, either. Interesting that we say China censored Obama's speech on censorship, but we don't consider non-coverage of all of the back-door deals and secret meetings of our own elected officials as censorship.

There is absolutely no doubt that foreign debt-holders will be around for a long time. Or, at least until their left hands can gather up enough security to allow their right hands to abandon our treasuries.