currency manipulation

G-20 Meeting Gives More Power to China, India, Brazil

g20Earlier we noted Geithner proposed balanced trade at the G-20 meeting.

How did that work out for ya?

Well, in response to the demand the G-20 confront currency re-evaulation, the G-20 gave China and Brazil more power.

More than 6 percent of IMF voting rights will be reallocated to countries such as China, while Europe will give up two board seats, G-20 finance ministers said yesterday after meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea. They also assigned the Washington-based fund a role in monitoring global trade imbalances and exchange rates.

Great, the biggest currency manipulator now has more power in the IMF, plus one of the biggest offshore outsourcing destination countries now have board seats.

After the changes take effect, the fund’s 10 biggest shareholders will comprise the U.S., Japan, four major European economies and Brazil, Russia, India and China. The IMF will have 24 board seats.

From International Business Times, that ain't too swank, it implies the Asian countries, particularly China, India, can act as a block, in unison.

China Raises Rates, the World Freaks Out

China raised rates by a quarter percent. The move made headline news, currencies jumped, stocks tanked. Do we have yet another freak out over nothing? Or is it more China holds the globe's economy by the short hairs?

Firstly, the interest rate was about their housing market, which is overheated and to curb inflation, which has risen the most in 2 years.

China’s central bank unexpectedly announced Tuesday that it would raise interest rates for the first time in nearly three years, apparently in the hopes of dampening inflation and cooling off this country’s hot property market.

MarketWatch is reporting the dollar jumped 1.4% against a basket of currencies.

The U.S. dollar jumped 1.4% against a basket of currencies on Tuesday as a rate hike by China fueled worries that the world’s fastest growing economy was trying to slow down

The sudden interest rate increase happened at the same time The World Bank issued a new report, East Asia Pacific Update and China's GDP and CPI numbers are due out this week. The World Bank expects China's GDP to be 9.5% this year.

China in Their Own Words

If the yuan isn’t stable, it will bring disaster to China and the world. If we increase the yuan by 20 percent-40 percent as some people are calling for, many of our factories will shut down and society will be in turmoil. If China’s economy goes down, it’s not good for the world economy.

This is China Premier Wen Jiabao, as quoted by Bloomberg News.

Get that? The United States should continue to export jobs to China as some sort of global social program. We should continue to give the Chinese people our jobs so they won't raise hell and revolt. We should allow China to continue to manipulate it's currency, capturing global manufacturing capabilities to keep the Chinese government in power. Wow. Maybe we should import Chinese potential social unrest, for the United States policies are stiffing the U.S. worker and the cries from the Populist are a muted whimper.

Jiabao also chastised the EU for joining the United States in demanding China re-evaluate their currency and blamed the United States for currency fluctuations. Businessweek:

Europe shouldn’t join the choir to press China to allow more yuan appreciation. The euro had a big fluctuation recently. It’s not because of yuan but the dollars. We shouldn’t be blamed for it; if there’s someone to be questioned, it should be the U.S.

China's Currency Manipulation Makes America See Red

A little noticed bill was voted out of committee Friday from the House Ways and Means Committee, H.R. 2378, the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act. This bill finally addresses China's currency manipulation by enabling tariffs. It passed out of committee by voice vote and all it will take to pass is to hear from constituents demanding Congress do so. The Senate version of the bill is S. 3134.

Geithner Hearts China with Tough Love?

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testified today before the Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Committee. The headlines blaze with a Geithner quote, it is past time for China to move on Yuan re-evaluation, as if some sort of action might actually happen against China and their currency manipulation.

In reading Geithner's hearing testimony, we have this:

We have very significant economic interests in our relationship with China. With over 1.3 billion people and an economy continuing to grow at or near double-digit rates, China is our fastest-growing major overseas market. China’s record of bringing hundreds of millions out of poverty, building a rapidly growing middle class, and now its efforts to encourage growth led by domestic demand, ultimately mean more demand for American goods and services. Increasing opportunities for U.S. firms and workers through expanded trade and investment with China will be an important part of the success of the President’s National Export Initiative and our efforts to support job growth more broadly.

2.4 million jobs lost due to China from 2001-2008

That's right. 2.4 million jobs lost in 8 years can be directed attributed to China.

Since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, 2.4 million jobs have been lost or displaced in the United States as a result of the burgeoning trade deficit with that nation

Dr. Robert Scott, International Economist for the Economic Policy Institute, has a new paper, Unfair China Trade Costs Local Jobs and it's well researched, damning. The AAM has published the report in an easy scrolling presentation on the AAM website.

The research paper's bullet points are reprinted below:

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