Here is libertarian George Mason University economics professor Don Boudreaux replying to liberal UMBC political science prof Thomas Schaller's column in Wednesday's Sun. Schaller is the author of Whistling Past Dixie: How Democrats Can Win Without the South. Boudreaux is author of the forthcoming Globalization.

Schaller:

The consequences of blind devotion to suspect economic theories are stark, as the Nobel-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz points out in the current Vanity Fair. "Cumulative borrowing from abroad during the six years of the Bush administration amounts to some $5 trillion," he writes. "Most likely, these creditors will not call in their loans - if they ever did, there would be a global financial crisis. But there is something bizarre and troubling about the richest country in the world not being able to live even remotely within its means."

Boudreaux:

Regardless of this debt's merits or demerits, what is the relevance of creditors' nationalities? Whether the creditors are in Utah or Ukraine, Baltimore or Beijing, the debt must be repaid. And that is the burden of the debt; the nationalities of creditors are irrelevant.