The increased price of greasing the whole machine…written down, written off, and inflated away. Pity the poor who have to eat…“late, degenerate capitalism” at its finest. Homes wilt like lettuce in the Vegas sun…the Olympic torch passes by Daily Reckoning offices…and more!

This is the Daily Mail’s reaction to Britain’s acceptance of Chinese security men on the streets of London this week during Olympic-torch protests in the city.

According to the paper, Chinese officials were ordering British police about and fighting running battles with British protesters. This, says columnist Anthony Browne, was “a brazen display of how confident China has become of its new place in the world, just as the British Government’s failure to take a firm stand on Chinese abuses of human rights shows how craven we have become.”