Reader question:

Please explain “hock” in this sentence - The US is in hock to the rest of the world.

My comments:

The United States has debts to pay other countries. That’s nothing new – and perhaps no laughing matter. Every year, the US of A typically runs a trade deficit with its major partners, including for example China and Japan. Countries like China and Japan, among others, then use the money generated from the trade surplus to buy, for example, US Treasury Bonds – money the United States has to pay when the notes mature. Hence, over the long run and in short, the United States owes other countries a lot, in terms of Treasury papers at the least.

Anyways, “hock” is an American slang for “pawn”. If you hock your necklace, for instance, you pawn it – you temporarily give it up, handing it over to a pawnshop for them to keep in exchange for a certain amount of money to run an urgent errand. In order to have the necklace back, however, you have to pay back the money owed, plus a stiff interest.

Hence therefore, it’s not a good idea to be in pawn or in hock, or simply, in debt. Figuratively speaking, “in hock” can also mean that you’re indebted to someone for favors they’ve done you. Whatever the situation, you’re put under obligation, and that’s in the main not a good position to be in because sooner or later time will come for payback, in kind or kindness, one way or another.

Ernest Hemingway, if I remember correctly, cautions against money borrowing in “The Old Man and the Sea”, saying: “First you borrow. Then you beg.”

And before you know, you’re at your knees, and in thrall (bondage, chains).

Not at all an enthralling picture to entertain but you get the gist.

Here are media examples of people in hock:

1. Hillary Rodham Clinton owes small New York vendors more than $150,000 as part of a campaign debt that has ballooned to almost $9 million, her campaign filings reveal.

Trailing Sen. Barack Obama by millions in cash, Clinton is in hock to more than 20 Big Apple businesses. Included is an $18.42 Time Warner cable bill, as well as debts owed to the Manhattan Center, the restaurant Capitale and Verizon.

By holding off mom-and-pop campaign vendors, Clinton has been able to buy TV airtime to compete with Obama.

- SHE’S IN HOCK TO NY VENDORS, New York Post, August 31, 2009.

2. The Conservatives on Tuesday attacked Labour for being “in hock” to trade union backers, as attempts to prevent a strike by British Airways cabin crew failed to achieve a breakthrough.

An estimated half a million travellers could be hit by the industrial action, with a three-day strike starting on Saturday and a further four-day strike the following weekend...

The Tories have sought to politicize the BA-Unite dispute by suggesting Labour has failed to prevent the strikes because of its financial dependence on Britain’s biggest union, and highlighting the close relationship between Gordon Brown and Charlie Whelan, his former spin-doctor and now Unite political officer.

“How can we trust what Gordon Brown says about this strike when we know he is in hock to Unite and in thrall to Charlie Whelan,” said Michael Gove, shadow education secretary.

- Labour accused of being ‘in hock’ to unions, FT.com, March 16 2010.

3. Consider again the finding that a half century of escalating consumption has not brought Americans increased satisfaction. This is a disturbing fact, and certainly one that seems pertinent to discussions of economic policy.

But let’s imagine, for a moment, that we had enjoyed ourselves for the past fifty years. Surely, trashing the planet is just as wrong if people take pleasure in the process as it is if they don’t. The same holds true for leaving future generations in hock and for exploiting the poor and for shrugging off inequality. Happiness is a good thing; it’s just not the only thing.

- Everybody Have Fun, What policymakers can learn from happiness research, NewYorker.com, March 18, 2010.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

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