10/19/10 Stockholm, Sweden – It sounds hard to believe, but apparently China has detected a US “double standard,” whereby the US is demanding China strengthen its renminbi currency while itself intentionally weakening the dollar through money printing. These days, China is almost getting a little too good at calling it like it sees it.
According to the AFP:
“The criticism of US monetary policy and its weakening dollar comes as Washington maintains pressure on Beijing over its yuan exchange rate, which US lawmakers claim is grossly undervalued and causing global trade imbalances.
“US policies of ‘printing money’ and holding interest rates near zero were the main cause of the currency dispute, said a commentary by the Xinhua news agency, carried Monday in the central bank-backed Financial News. ‘In the eyes of some American politicians it is entirely reasonable to print money and keep the dollar exchange rate low, but it is illegal for other countries to protect their economic and financial security by pushing down exchange rates,’ it said.
“‘This is clearly a double standard.’”
OK, granted, it sounds a bit like a double standard. However, at least the US is standing firm in its stance, as opposed to equivocating on the position.
Here’s Addison Wiggin’s take in today’s 5 Min. Forecast:
“For the second time this year, the Treasury Department is withholding a semiannual report that labels other countries as ‘currency manipulators.’ The report was due Friday, but with the midterm elections coming up, and a G-20 summit a few days after that and the Treasury sec’y only now recovering from the tantrum he threw last week, they decided to punt.
“‘Had we named China as a currency manipulator,’ one Treasury official anonymously explained it to the Swoop, a foreign policy insider website, ‘we would have angered the Chinese; had we not done so, we would have angered American voters. Other than delay, it was a no-win.’”
Double standards and something akin to a spaghetti spine on the whole currency manipulation matter. These are not sounding like the best of days. You can read more details in the AFP’s coverage of how, according to China, the US has ‘double standards’ in the ongoing currency dispute.
Best,
Rocky Vega,
The Daily Reckoning
Rocky Vega
Rocky Vega is publisher of Agora Financial International, where he advances the growth of Agora Financial publishing enterprises outside of the US. Previously, he was publisher of The Daily Reckoning, and founding publisher of both UrbanTurf and RFID Update -- which he ran from Brazil, Chile, and Puerto Rico -- as well as associate publisher of FierceFinance. Rocky has an honors MS from the Stockholm School of Economics and an honors BA from Harvard University, where he served on the board of directors for Let’s Go Publications, Harvard Student Agencies, and The Harvard Advocate.
The Daily Reckoning is your premier source for making sense of the news Washington and Wall Street generate. Each business day, The Daily Reckoning calls on its stable of world-class writers and thinkers to show you how to get ahead.
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Hey, America! You can’t play double standards when you have nothing left to play with.
Double standards has been american foreign policy for, well at least 60 years. What is new?
We must defend ourselves against aggressive valuation practices. As far as having a double standard? Probably, because we run a democratic ship with separation of powers and not a centrally controlled communist tank from a single control room. And every other economically vital country is participating in similar disputes. As far as even bringing it up? Fine, it shows China is willing to participate in dialogue. How democratic of them.
“Probably, because we run a democratic ship with separation of powers and not a centrally controlled communist tank from a single control room.”
Oh, please.
I’m going to democratically demand that the FED stop ‘Quantitative Easing’, democratically demand that the US Government return to Constitutional forms of Gold and Silver money, democratically demand that the Fort Knox gold be returned to US Citizens, democratically demand that cash financial transactions above stated dollar amounts stop being reported to the IRS.
Wait…I can’t do that. I’m in the USA. I’d be put on a government watch list as a dangerous terrorist.
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