Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is pressing for a stronger yuan at talks that started in Beijing today, just three days after the currency's biggest drop since the nation scrapped a fixed exchange rate in 2005. "A spanner's been thrown into the works," said Dwyfor Evans, a strategist with State Street Global Markets in Hong Kong. "It may mean a more heated debate on the currency." The fifth round of the Strategic Economic Dialogue between China and the U.S. is a swansong for Paulson, who initiated the talks and will exit with the Bush administration. The currency appreciation that he's applauded -- a 20 percent gain since the end of a peg to the dollar -- may be wound back as President Hu Jintao seeks to protect exporters from the global recession.
Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is pressing for a stronger yuan at talks that started in Beijing today, just three days after the currency's biggest drop since the nation scrapped a fixed exchange rate in 2005.
"A spanner's been thrown into the works," said Dwyfor Evans, a strategist with State Street Global Markets in Hong Kong. "It may mean a more heated debate on the currency."
The fifth round of the Strategic Economic Dialogue between China and the U.S. is a swansong for Paulson, who initiated the talks and will exit with the Bush administration. The currency appreciation that he's applauded -- a 20 percent gain since the end of a peg to the dollar -- may be wound back as President Hu Jintao seeks to protect exporters from the global recession.
China's mercantilist policies can work as long as they are willing to finance US debt, and it seems they are. It won't solve the overall crisis, it will just mean that Americans still live above their (reduced) means, and the problem remain for later... In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
Some of its increase may be due to grocery and drug sales to customers that previously shopped more up-scale shops. Those stores, J.C.Penny, Macy's, etc have been hit hard, down double digits in many cases. They also bought from China and are cutting back hard. It will get much worse, and soon. Unemployment is accelerating. Can China live by Wal-Mart alone? As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
