Putin: U.S. Is a 'Parasite' on World Economy

Vladimir Putin appears to share the same sentiment that many Americans have felt during the debt limit mess, expressed via Twitter as #fuckyouwashington. The Russian prime minister told a youth summer camp in Moscow that the U.S. is "living like parasites off the global economy and their monopoly of the dollar," Reuters' Lake Seliger reports. "They are living beyond their means and shifting a part of the weight of their problems to the world economy."

Putin (shown above, as he prepares to arm wrestle one of the camp attendees) expressed frustration that his country and China were affected by American politics because they hold so much of their reserves in American securities. "If over there (in America) there is a systemic malfunction. this will affect everyone... There should be other reserve currencies," Putin said.

But the Russian prime minister seems to be misinterpreting the current debt deal. "Thank god," Putin said, "that they had enough common sense and responsibility to make a balanced decision." That's not how liberals, at least, see it. In the debt limit negotiations, "balanced" is Democrats' code for a plan that includes tax hikes. They ultimately caved on that demand.