U.S. foreign policy with China, under both Republican and Democratic administrations, has been, "Loan us your money, so we can buy your stuff."

Some of our most-valuable industries, from global banks like J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) to distribution networks such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT), have emerged over the past few decades to help carry out this long-standing policy.

This week, the Pew Center, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington D.C., released more of its extensive research into the general public's perceptions of this policy. It appears that we, as a general public, are afraid. Very, very afraid.

What did we think was going to happen? You can't keep selling Treasurys to China for years on end and then ask, "Why does our government owe China more than $1 trillion?" You can't keeping watching corporations ship jobs to China for years on end, and then ask, "Gee, where'd all the jobs go?" You can't keep running annual trade deficits and then ask, "Hey, how did we dig this massive hole all the way to China?"