Posted on 09/12/2008 1:17:54 AM PDT by Michael_Michaelangelo
China, which holds a fifth of its currency reserves in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt, may cut the portion held in US dollars, according to China International Capital Corp (CICC), one of the nation's biggest investment banks.
The US government this week seized control of the two mortgage-finance companies, which account for almost half of the home-loan market in the world's biggest economy, to prevent defaults from crippling them. China holds up to $400 billion in the two firms' debt, CICC Chief Economist Ha Jiming said in a report Thursday. "The crisis has made Chinese officials realize it's a bad idea to put all their eggs in one basket," wrote Hong Kong-based Ha. "This will likely lead to greater diversification of foreign exchange reserve investments."
China held $447.5 billion of US agency bonds as of June 2008, according to the CICC calculations using disclosures by the US Treasury. It is likely to reduce the portion of reserves in dollar assets from the current 60 percent by purchasing more non-dollar assets with new reserves, he said.
Countries in Asia have stockpiled foreign exchange reserves since the 1997-98 financial crisis to act as a cushion against a run on their exchange rates. That in turn has increased pressure on policymakers to ensure higher returns from more than $4 trillion in assets.
China will expand its investments in corporate bonds and equities, according to Ha. Treasury and agency bonds account for 50 percent and 40 percent of total dollar assets held by the central bank, he wrote.
Bring on the trade war!
Enough already.
BUY AMERICAN.
I would, if some of the American goods weren’t *worse* made than the Asian/foreign alternatives, while at the same time costing more.
Case in point - Colt 1991A1 pistol. Made in USA with obvious machining marks, not noticably high quality. Competition: Springfield Loaded model, same price, more features, *much* better quality, assembled in USA but frame is made in Brazil.
Also, last year I had to buy a series of starters for my Jeep. I bought a bunch of made in USA ones, and they all failed, caught on fire, or had other issues.
The *Japanese* built starter I finally bought has outlasted the motor in the car and went seven times as long as any of the US replacements did.
How have so many conservatives, who otherwise go to the wall for America, become knee-jerk America bashers when the topic is American products?
Just saying.
American companies are what supplied our armed forces through every war we’ve ever (won).
What happens, when they’re gone?
Don’t think that will happen?
Go have a Budweiser, and get back to us.
Think back to your 20th century history.
I’m being completely series here.
What caused Japan to attack America? America’s industrial base at that time, was 10 times Japan’s. Japan had an awe-inspiring military, and was quite confident it could win.
Japan attacked America, because of oil.
Now think about today. America now depends on oil, exactly as Japan did.
We now no longer have that industrial base.
We have sent that industrial base, to potential enemies.
Potential enemies, who now increasingly can threaten OUR oil supplies.
How did this happen?
Because Walmart is beholden to Beijing, and because you buy Japanese knock-offs for your Jeep. And a lot of other things just like that.
Just saying...
Bring on that trade war.
Speaking of another “American made” product that sucks... Budweiser could be poured back into the horse it came from with no loss to the cosmos. Shiner or Guinness, please.
As for your question: Because they’ve been burned SO many times by “buying American.” To continue to do so now would be like enabling your druggie brother instead of cutting him off and making him sober up.
People like me are more than willing to buy American if there is no sacrifice in quality required. Unfortunately, and especially when dealing with union-made goods, quite often buying American involves making a significant sacrifice in quality.
American companies have failed in the past. Others have risen to replace them. Or have you heard from Brewster Aviation lately? Fairchild?
The most *expensive* war production manufactory in the world is one that is second best. And that’s what enabling these crappy makers does - it gives us a manufacturing base that’s crap.
American depends on foreign oil for a totally different reason than Japan did. Japan depended on it because they had none domestically; we depend on it because a bunch of idiots in Washington won’t let us get at our own vast oil reserves. The parallel doesn’t work.
Japanese knockoffs for my Jeep? Oh, no. The Japanese starter was a *totally* different design. Instead of the ancient, unreliable, high-power-consumption boat anchor of a direct-drive starter that Jeep was selling me, the Japanese one was a small, light, modern, high tech, lower power usage gear reduction starter. A Chrysler’s exec’s off-the-record response when I asked them why they hadn’t upgraded their starters to the newer technology was “We want to sell more starters. If we improved them, we wouldn’t sell as many.” Never mind the irritated customers and stranded motorists, they just want to sell more defective starters.
And you want to support this?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
So it’s good to destroy America’s manufacturing capabilities and our economy, just to shaft unions?...
Oh, and by the way, you missed my point - I and others like me buy American when the quality is equal and the price is relatively comparable. In fact, I often try to buy American first, where it makes sense. However, I have often been burned.
Another good example. I just had to replace the upper ball joints on my Pathfinder, after replacing them this spring with all new Made In USA With Union Pride Moog units. Turns out that Moog’s union drones weren’t paying attention and they were producing garbage. Also turns out that Moog’s Mexican plant is producing better ball joints than the US one and they’ve moved all production of this part down there.
Finally, it turns out that the Japanese-built Moogs in the lower control arms, which are by far the more stressed in the car’s suspension design, are holding up just fine.
Are you telling me that I should knowingly buy defective parts, just to “support” American industry?
Pathfinder.
Nissan.
Nuff said.
It should also be noted that I have a large number of plastic storage containers, all purchased from WalMart. Guess where they’re made?
Yup, I bought a Nissan after the Jeep (and Chrysler) screwed me over so thoroughly, I thought I was Gennifer Flowers.
So, I thought I’d bolt some “made in USA” parts from the premier made in USA suspension parts maker to it, because it was old and I was servicing the bushings anyway. The original Japanese ones went 225K without problems. The Moog ones lasted... 10K.
You sound like Tokyo Rose.
Also, it’s good to support this industry, so they can produce guns that crack, break, and jam on our soldiers?
(You do know that the M-16 is no longer produced by Colt for the US military, but FN, right? Colt had too many QC issues and wanted too much money for their union drones to build them.)
Answer the question. Do you believe that I should knowingly purchase *known* defective parts to “support” American industry, yes or no?
Bash bash bash.
America sucks.
/s
You are still evading the question. Do you believe that I should knowingly purchase *known* defective parts to “support” American industry, yes or no?
You sound like Charles Gibson.
By the way, FN builds them in America in a non-union factory.
And my plastic storage containers from WalMart? Made in America, for LESS money than the Rubbermaid sold next to it (which is made in China. Walmart carries the Sterilite brand of plastic containers, which are all made in Massachusetts.
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