Posted on 09/14/2010 4:21:27 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
In his latest NYT op-ed, Paul Krugman takes a break from worrying about the GOP and spending to return to another one of his big issues -- Chinese currency manipulation.
Japan's leaders, he notes, have rightfully been concerned about Chinese debt buying, and the effect that has on pushing up the yen (thus killing exports), and he wonders why we can't get the same level of outrage here.
Basically, there are two reasons why American leaders are too scared to slap a tariff on China and penalize them for this kind of manipulation.
The first is that they're worried China will stop buying our debt. The second is that they're worried about retribution towards American companies in China.
It's actually the second one that's more interesting.
As for China not buying our debt, well... they're already paring back their holdings, but between our Fed, and the global savings boom, it just hasn't been much of an issue. Yields are very close to their all time lows despite China clearly losing its appetite for USTs. And to the extent that Chinese selling of bonds would hurt the dollar then, well, obviously to Krugman that'd be a good thing.
As for this issue of whether American companies doing business in China will see diminished opportunities, that plays into a much bigger theme, namely the crisis of confidence in the future of the Chinese market. Several business execs have warned about this -- that China just isn't as exciting of a place to be as they thought it would be. Already the government there hasn't been "pro business" in the way they'd like it to be.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
This guy is dizzying. He seems to just come up with whatever he thinks will get some action on his silly blog—oh, wait, he closed the comments on that, didn’t he?
He's an idiot. 15-20 years of leftist tripe in the NYT and other syndicated newspapers. Virtually everything he puts in print is the opposite of what needs to happen.
I find him amusing. He thinks he’s so smart and everyone else is an idiot for not listening to him. He doesn’t realize everyone regards him as a weird little troll.
What a DOPE!
We should be thrilled that ANY country wants to buy our debt. Soon enough China will STOP. They are buying as little as possible of our debt to keep that value UP of their debt bought in better days. They KNOW NOT TO BUY MORE. The U.S. is SINKING and they are getting off the economic Titanic.
Krugman is a silly clown.
You would think Krugman would know how Smoot-Hawley crushed the economy. But you'd be wrong.
A certified Nutkook socialist.
The third reason is that the Federal Reserve is on record as being a manipulator of the U.S. dollar and encouraging other central banks to manipulate it too.
Here’s an idea. Balance the budget and then we don’t have to worry about selling our debt ever again.
It is long past time for the American right, to stop drinking the “free trade” kool-aid.
“Free trade” is neither free, nor trade.
It is a one-way sellout of our country. The destruction of our entire way of life. For the selfish benefit of a few.
It is treason.
Like most Progressive Fascists Democrats, this guy is intellectually incoherent. On the one hand he argues the US needs much more stimulus spending by the Feds but on the other hand worries about the Chinese holding too much debt. Those 2 positions are utterly incompatible intellectually.
From future.state.gov:
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff was more a consequence of the onset of the Great Depression than an initial cause. But while the tariff might not have caused the Depression, it certainly did not make it any better. It provoked a storm of foreign retaliatory measures and came to stand as a symbol of the “beggar-thy-neighbor” policies (policies designed to improve one’s own lot at the expense of that of others) of the 1930s. Such policies contributed to a drastic decline in international trade. For example, U.S. imports from Europe declined from a 1929 high of $1,334 million to just $390 million in 1932, while U.S. exports to Europe fell from $2,341 million in 1929 to $784 million in 1932. Overall, world trade declined by some 66% between 1929 and 1934. More generally, Smoot-Hawley did nothing to foster trust and cooperation among nations in either the political or economic realm during a perilous era in international relations.
It took till 1834 to get rid of Smoot-Hawley.
Smoot-Hawley was bad for America, because we were an EXPORTING NATION then.
We were the nation, running the huge trade surplus.
We were the nation, with the largest manufacturing base in the history of the world.
America built, sold and invented almost everything then.
Now. We do none of that. That is the difference. We no longer have anything to lose.
Because we already gave it all away... Our factories. Our technology. Our money.
All of it. Gone.
All of it. Gone.
Not quite.
Ag exports are huge.
Even in a trade war - the world has to eat.
The ferret comes out of the burrow, says something stupid, and goes back in.
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