US Senate to mull deadline for China to revalue yuan (what balls!)

[cthrumatrix]

US Senate to mull deadline for China to revalue yuan

17 minutes ago Business - AFP



WASHINGTON (AFP) - China would have a six-month deadline to revalue its currency under a bill to be introduced in the US Senate amid charges the yuan is wreaking havoc on the US economy, officials said.

At least a dozen senators from both President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s Republican Party and the Democratic Party have agreed to co-sponsor the bill, Israel Klein, spokesman for one of the senators, told AFP.


"It will be introduced hopefully tomorrow or in the coming days and would require China to abide by international trade agreements and stop manipulating the value of its currency," said Klein, speaking on behalf of New York Democrat Senator Charles Schumer, who is spearheading the proposed legislation.

snip

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1519&ncid=749&e=6&u=/afp/20050202/bs_afp/uschinatrade

This is a joke... our budget deficit and trade deficit have been hurting the dollar for years.... but it's China's fault.

It's all China and were gonna pass a bill to prove it.

[Sandpiper]

1. China has our economy by the short and curlies

Is it really wise to rattle their cage?

[cthrumatrix]

13. China has Buffet and Gates shorting the dollar...... who's smarter here?

We have the "shrub".

[Blower]

19. At first I thought the "short the dollar" was a bluff

By Gates, et. al

But now that I see a lot of the debt to the consumer sector is going to turn into "deadbeat money", with so few jobs and a stagflation slowdown...maybe there will be a dollar meltdown?

Looks to me like GDP will be less this year--and deficit as percent of GDP will skyrocket?

Don't you think that the next sign will be dumping of Mortgage Backed Securities (Fannie Mae non-backed notes)? This would seem the natural step after things like GM debt downgrades and recent CountryWide Financial shortfalls?

[VegasWolf]

20. No. Gates is NOT bluffing. You don't make bluffs like that! n/t

[Blower]

22. When I saw it, I thought he might want to get others to short the dollar

The comment from Gates was carried far and wide.

It made me think they wanted stupids to think "boy I should short the dollar too"

[Wright Patman]

2. China is too cozy with Iran

That's why Sen. Schumer is involved.

I really can't see how this emerging bloc of nations siding with Iran in standing up to the U.S. can be dealt with short of all-out nuclear war.

Better hope that HAARP is able to vaporize the ICBM retaliation as they reenter the atmosphere over North America.

[atreides1]

3. What Gall

So now, not only does the US have the authority to determine who can and cannot have nuclear weapons, but somehow it has also decided that it can tell another country to revalue its' monetary system.

What's next, the US gets to determine what religion the rest of the world must follow?

[Anakin Skywalker]

11. Now You are Talking!

"What's next, the US gets to determine what religion the rest of the world must follow?"

Heh heh. That's the CONservo/Rethugs' plan. :)

[Dirk39]

4. "stop manipulating the value of its currency"

that's a good one. I hope these people know, what would happen, if the USA would "stop manipulating the value of its currency"...

Hello from Germany,
Dirk

[Tempest]

10. No lie. This is so hypocritical

The U.S. has been manipulating the dollar to keep it weak since Bush took office.

[daleo]

5. While they are at it, they'll tell the Chinese to speak English.

And maybe get a haircut.

[David__77]

6. This is ridiculous... Schumer is no better than the neo-cons on this one.

This anti-China nonsense needs to stop. China was lavishly praised for NOT revaluing its currency in 1997-8 during the Asian financial crisis and now they're bad because they won't now.

China would be wise to consider its national security when formulating monetary policy. If Bush and the rest are so concerned, let them take the US dollar off the "free float" and return to a Bretton Woods set-up. Otherwise, quit complaining that others' systems work better.

[Obviousman]

7. Coming soon: The senate proposes throwing rocks at bee hives

[Karenina]

18. This after allowing *dauphin

take a stick to the hornet's nest in Iraq. :eyes:
China will slap the U.S. economy up against the wall on its OWN TIMETABLE. Not YOURS.

[Cornjob]

8. I wonder what the penalty would be for...

non-compliance?

Probably the worst penalty the Senate could propose would be to send Rick Santorum to China to teach them some Christian values.

Now that would be retribution!

[Tempest]

9. A future ruling against the U.S. by the WTO

Imposing tariffs against China without going through the WTO is illegal. And there is no way the WTO would approve of tariffs just because of a currency disagreement.

Bush has already cost the U.S. billions in sanctions from illegal tariffs on wood from Canada and other tariffs (another from Europe, but I can't remember off-hand what it was for).

[54anickel]

12. WTF are they doing? This right before the G-7 meeting this weekend?

They are bull shitting and a 27.5% tariff is gonna hurt us just as much, if not more than them.

China got pretty "ballsy" at Davos last week. Are these Senators stupid enough to think they need to put them in their place?

A little snippet from an article in today's SMW
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000039&refer=columnist_pesek&sid=anG6GRlMcrz8

snip>

`Reasonable Level'

``Please leave it to us,'' Li Ruogu, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, said in Davos, Switzerland, when it was suggested a stronger yuan would help China. ``We are happy and willing to listen, but don't ask us to practice what you say,'' he said.

Huang Ju, who directs China's finance policy as deputy prime minister, threw even more cold water on speculation the yuan will rise. ``We have to maintain the exchange rate at a reasonable level,'' said Huang, who also was attending the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Yet it's Chinese officials further down the political food chain that seem to sympathize most with Gates and Buffett. ``The U.S. should take the lead in putting its own house in order,'' said Chinese central bank adviser Yu Yongding.

It's breathtaking, really, to see the U.S. being chastised by Chinese policy makers. Perhaps it's payback for all the lecturing Treasury secretaries from Robert Rubin in the 1990s to John Snow today have done here in Asia. More likely, though, Chinese officials are getting antsy about their own U.S. dollar holdings.

snip>

Until now, the U.S. has been able to dazzle currency traders with its deficits-don't-matter poker face. Yet it's clearly losing its ability to keep investors -- and central banks -- in check. Once central banks here in Asia turn on the dollar, the U.S. is in for some very turbulent times as bond yields surge.

The risk can be seen in China's evolving incentives to alter its dollar peg. The U.S. has been using its strength to push China to boost the yuan, thereby reducing its trade advantage. Yet it's the risk of instability and big losses on dollar holdings that may ultimately force China's hand. So it's U.S. weakness, not strength, that's turning heads in Beijing.

[snippy]

14. This is just political posturing and a little theater

for gullible constituents. I doubt it will ever be voted on.

[Blower]

15. Bullcrap--

This is the same congress who allows the US Federal Reserve to run interest rates at a level which send all the jobs and investment over to China. And led to a RECORD LOW savings rate.

This is the same congress who voted for the "Jobs Creation Act" last year which allows re-patriated dollars to be used with special tax incentive for MERGERS in the US--which DESTROYS jobs.

If the Chinese currency is re-valued now, it will crash the world economy, because so many other things are out of kilter, due to DIRECT ACTIONS by US policy makers, including Congress, the President, and the Federal Reserve.

The price of intermediate and finished goods (aka Wal-Mart) would skyrocket if the currency is re-valued now, against the backdrop of stupidly low US interest rates.

More:

www.libertywhistle.us

[bemildred]

16. Bullcrap indeed ... nt

[VegasWolf]

17. Telling China to revalue their currency idiotic, a chimp from texas

priceless! The chimp gets funnier and funnier the
more isolated he becomes from reality.

[scottxyz]

21. Sounds like an article from the Onion

Since when does Congress get to tell China what to do?

[ckramer]

23. Why would China listen to the Congress? What would these congressmen do

if China refuse to do so?

[Blower]

24. Maybe Congress would quit taking hundreds of billions from China? n/t