It's China, Stupid

UPDATE IV: "A bill that could impose tariffs on Chinese exports would trigger a trade war and distract the United States from the real issues it faces." Read The New York Times, Imagined in America.

Maybe, but China must allow free trade in its currency.


UPDATE III: "Ask yourself: Why is it so hard to restore full employment? . . .

The answer is that we used to run much smaller trade deficits. A return to economic health would look much more achievable if we weren’t spending $500 billion more each year on imported goods and services than foreigners spent on our exports."

Read The New York Times, Holding China to Account.


UPDATE II: Finally, someone sees the economic benefit of "crack[ing] down on China’s currency practices." Read the Washington Post, The China stimulus.


UPDATE: Want to know how 'Made in China ' is displacing North American made goods big time? The Emma Maersk. I first posted about this impressive weapon in the war against the middle class in April 2009 and I recently got another email about her, which reminded me:

"This monster transports goods across the Pacific in just 5 days!! This is one of three ships presently in service, with another two ships commissioned to be completed in 2012.

These ships were commissioned by Wal-Mart to get all their goods and stuff from China . They hold an incredible 15,000 containers and have a 207 foot deck beam!! The full crew is just 13 people on a ship longer than a US Aircraft Carrier (which has a crew of 5,000.)

A documentary in 2010 on the History Channel noted that all of these containers are shipped back to China , EMPTY. Yep, that's right. We send nothing back on these ships. What does that tell you about the current financial state of this country? Just keep buying those imported goods (mostly gadgets) until you run out of money.

Then you may wonder what the cause of unemployment (maybe even your job) in the U.S. and Canada might be????

'Nuff said ??"

Over the weekend, in a statement full of irony, China, the "largest foreign holder of American debt . . . lecture[d] Washington to get its fiscal house in order."

But, as the Wall Street Journal notes, "who are the Chinese kidding with their chest-pounding economic nationalism?"

China "is ignoring that America's real problem is sustained international trade imbalances." Read The New York Times, U.S. Debt Is Not the Culprit, which notes that the "root of global instability still lies in trade imbalances and currency values, and the need for adjustments in both Asia and the United States."

There is an easy way to resolve our government budget woes, end unfair trade practices, including Chinese currency manipulation.