Jeffrey Sachs is an economist, on the Left, but with a lot of knowledge and experience. If we had followed his advice in Russia in the early 90's -- making a large 'stabilization fund' available, in the spirit of the Marshall Plan -- we might not have Mr Putin today. If, if, if ... One of the most common fallacies in conflict is the idea that "If an action that I do makes my enemy unhappy, it must be the smart thing to do." It's a very seductive idea, because a lot of the right, smart things to do in a conflict will make your enemy unhappy -- almost by definition -- but in this case it's an example of the "all whiskey is alcohol but not all alcohol is whiskey" fallacy. Furthermore, it's encouraged by the natural male inclination towards being tough and belligerent -- which has deep biological roots. (If your male ancestors were not tough and beligerent, someone else would have impregnated your female ancestors -- another tough and belligerent male.) We've got to be strong, yes. We must not be naive. The kum-ba-yah view of the world, so prevalent on the Left, is the view of those who will become the prey of others. But ... not every tough and belligerent and aggressive action is a smart action. See Pickett's Charge. Anyway, please read this piece. If all you know about China is derived from Fu-Manchu stereotypes, you need to educate yourself. You need to think like Richard Nixon, no weak-kneed limp-wristed liberal appeaser, but a man who understood something about how national leaders think, and who was concerned about America's long-term national interests in a dangerous world. There are real questions about maintaining America's industrial and technological base, about countering theft of intellectual property, about supporting America's working class. Good for Trump for raising these issues -- (the latter concern used to be a monopoly of the Left, but now they could care less what happens to Deplorables.) But not all alcohol is whiskey. [SOURCE ]
So, since China doesn't meet Treasury's own definition as a currency manipulator, why make the charge? •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Giving China the official "currency manipulator" tag gives the Trump administration leeway to further hit Beijing with punitive measures. For example, it can impose restrictions on Chinese companies or forbid American businesses to deal with Chinese counterparts, according to strategist Andrew Leung. At the same time, the US Treasury's move signals another escalation of the ongoing US-China trade spat, researcher Peter Earle of American Institute for Economic Research believes. "Overwhelmingly when a country denounces another using those specific terms, it's assumed that the intention is to plead its case before the International Monetary Fund, which means more uncertainty, more volatility in financial markets, and quite possibly more damage to both the US and Chinese economies," Earle wrote.
What nonsense. This article doesn't understand the situation at all. We are in a trade war with China in an attempt to get them to stop stealing technology and business ownership from us. The currency devaluation is simply a shot from China in the war. It helps china, helps American consumers and hurts the overall goal of the trade war. Tariffs aren't positive. They are simply ammunition in a trade war that attempts to change China's behavior. If China changes, they can go away. If not it is likely trade between our countries may go to zero.
China floods Left-wing Think Tanks, politicians and Universities. The Left churns out poorly constructed arguments like the lead post source a dime a dozen. Check out the loaded language: Very quickly he lays the blame at the feet of Trump: Their theft, dumping industrial espionage and the use of their surplus with us to build a military specifically designed to challenge us in our efforts to keep international shipping lanes open, do not make an appearance in his "analysis". How many times have we covered this? The reason American Consumers are feeling no pain, is because China is cutting their prices, which the Left endlessly denied until it was undeniable, and now they pretend that by describing on way China cuts their prices, that they have discovered the holy grail. Yes, we know all this. Despite the Billions flowing into the US Treasury, Consumer prices are not in an inflationary spiral, because China has cut the prices for their goods in a desperate attempt to maintain market share. And they have managed to maintain market share, though their growth rate in US market share has plunged 62%. No ****? Why, not long ago we were assured that it was the US Consumer that was "suffering" as Trump shot us in the foot. Now that the cash flow cow for the Left is clearly suffering, because they walked away from enforceable agreements to protect US intellectual property, now the Left is in an uproar, as they seek to maintain the Chinese advantage against the American Worker. How do you think we fund the persistent trade deficit? With the Federal Deficit! Money doesn't grow on trees! Just because the Chinese floods Left wing think tanks, universities and politicians, does not obligate the American Worker to fund your benefactors at the cost of real harm to the US manufacturing base. Further, we are not required to close our eyes as China uses their massive trade surplus on a military building specifically designed to give them the ability to sink our Aircraft Carriers. We generally have 6,000 people on an aircraft carrier and billions in weaponry. Do you give a damn about that, or are you just looking to carry water for your Chinese benefactors. These last few statements you put in bold, which means you must think they are really key. You finally answered your own question, why is the trade deficit important, because its generally roughly matched by the Federal Deficit. Trump's tariffs have created a new cash flow of Billions to the US Treasury, yet all you can do is complain as the Chinese Puppet Masters loose the Leftwing "thinkers" in the US against any disruption of their use of the American Worker and American Consumer as their cash cow for their military buildup. At the end of 2016 when Obama left office, the US debt was 104.41% of GDP. Two years previously this stood at 101.53%. That is, during Obama's last two years it climbed by nearly 3% of GDP and you were pleased, didn't say squat. Now Trump has been reducing the growth of the Chinese absorption of our Manufacturing base, funded by our own Consumer base, and over two years, our debt to GDP has flattened and even declined a little, to 104.29%, and yet this amazing feat didn't make it into your sources article, even as he feigned disgust over the Debt to GDP? I'm amazed at the volume and vitriol aimed at one man, at that they all seem to be over-matched, just because one man stands up and refused to buckle, and is actually achieving results. Never in the history of our nation have we ever seen a mass propaganda campaign aimed at ONE Person. And it counts on folks who can't think to parrot their points as widely as possible, your problem is that we have access to the internet and we can look these things up ourselves. They aren't fooling the American People, and they really shouldn't still be fooling you.
China has been in a trade war with us for 30 years. Trump is the only one who wants to do anything about it. Everyone else just wants us to take it up the butt.
Because it’s Trump making noise to appease his base. You know, the ones who think Fu Manchu was a real person.
Spoken like a fake who believes he can use bone spurs as an excuse to avoid his war, and deal with his collateral damage by creating a multi-billion dollar welfare program for the nation's farmers he has devastated: "TRADE WARS ARE GOOD, AND EASY TO WIN!"
The war with China has been going on for about the last 10 years. Trump has decided to fix the issue and make the tough decisions that others were unwilling to make. China is a real problem and the economic war will last at least another 4-8 years. If we lose China becomes the #1 economy in the world and will then use it to build a military to swallow up her neighbors. Staring in the South China sea.
Much like trump you can't see past the end of your nose, and that won't change if you decide to cut it off. What a complete load of bullshit.
All of that and you clearly have no friggin idea wtf you're talking about. Some people have no shame. We "fund" the trade deficit with the federal deficit??? What in holy hell are you smoking?
Trump's bum-kissing ideologues are in denial, and indifferent to the victims of Fake Don's "East to win!" Trade War: America's farmers. Many say they prefer free-market capitalism to his making them dependent upon the State. Trump's multi-billion dollar welfare program for his victims won't be enough:
U.S. trade gap with China reaches all-time high under Trump https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/06/us-china-trade-deficit-record-1242498 Like everything else he touches, Trump's trade war has turned to ****. But I actually supported him on this one. A lot of Democrats did. We're addicted to cheap Chinese crap. It's disgusting. Our manufacturing base has been whittled down to nothing. But since Trump is incompetent, I knew he would screw it up, which he did. Maybe Warren will have better luck.
Nonsense, US trade gap with China is improving, albeit very slowly. 2019 semi-annual deficit is better than it was in 2014 or any year after that. https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html But hey, Politico that you quoted is a liberal lying rag, one of the biggest disseminators of fake news so basically par for the course.
Well...China is already forecasted to be the largest economy in the world by 2050...or sooner. China is about 1.3 billion and the US about 325 million, both with similar momentums and capabilities. China is the 800 gorilla in the room and formidable competition moving forward. I would prefer the US resolve it's issues with China through the UN and with an international coalition...not going it alone. I predict going it alone the potential is higher for failure while Americans are pawns in this BS political game...
It won't be. Ridiculous. Everyone who has been following the global economy long enough has heard arguments about a declining America before. Back in 1979, In Japan as Number One: Lessons for America, Ezra Vogel argued that an ascending Japan was ready to overtake a faltering America. It’s well known what happened to the “ascending” Japan ten years later. Japan’s economy stopped its ascent when we moved our supply chains to China. Japan slid into a prolonged stagnation that lasts to this day, as it failed to make the transition from an export-driven economy to a consumer driven economy. As we move our supply chains to Vietnam, Canada and Mexico, China will similarly flounder. Meanwhile, America resumed its ascent, GDP is up 45% under Trump. China may not even do as well as Japan did in the aftermath of the US shifting it's business. It doesn’t share Japan’s innovation drive either to make the Great Leap forwards from copying foreign technologies to developing its own. China’s economy won’t get big help from its domestic consumer market either. For an obvious reason: China has yet to develop the institutions and policies that support a consumer economy. Like redirecting bank lending from the business sector, especially state-owned firms, to the consumer sector. TRADE WAR: ‘Brutal consequences’: Ansell warns China over exodus of manufacturers. Hopefully China doesn't conduct a massacre in Hong Kong, if they do, watch the developing world promptly yank all their business from the Chi-coms. "It's going to be quite brutal for China here, in a short while." Ansell had moved some production out of China, because China is frankly a very expensive place to produce in these days. They can produce a product at 20-30 per cent lower cost in Vietnam or Sri Lanka.
There is nothing that suggests that China will not become an economic top dog! Current GDP is $20,220 billion and GDP in 2016 was $18,707 which is growth of about $1,513 billion or 8%...today growth is about 2.1%.
Sure, just like Japan was going to, in the 80's. It's all based on access to OUR consumer markets. China will never surpass the US, it's a one-party State, they will never allow the economic freedom necessary for their people to really excel. China does not invest in its people, it sucks off our investment in our people and we control the access to our markets. Its military expenditure falls far short of America’s. Domestically, the costs of repression and stability are said to be even greater than the budget of the People’s Liberation Army. An ageing population of 1.4bn requires a comprehensive social security system. They have trashed their environment, the costs of rectifying the damage they have done to their own country are mind-boggling. Assume no US growth until 2049 and China’s GDP would need to increase at nearly 6 per cent every year (and despite their claims, they are not currently even at that, today) just to match America’s 2018 per capita income. Such smooth growth defies all empirical experience. It also assumes that the renminbi peg survives in perpetuity, the peg is crucial and has already broken. As they moved to their current leader, they knew they needed reform as their growth was speeding into a cul-de-sac. So they claim they are reforming but the Leninist need to hold on to the levers of economic power (to avoid the rise of economic interests that might turn political and mutter “no taxation without representation”) is at loggerheads to giving more play to the market. China is in demographic suicide. It's labor force is already shrinking precipitously, with only a birth rate of 1.6 children per woman and far too many are men. The costs of social security, of caring for the elderly, will be enormous. Labor productivity growth isn't enough to handle this cost. They have a massive looming water crisis in 12 northern provinces that account for 41 per cent of China’s population, 38 per cent of its agriculture, 46 per cent of its industry and 50 per cent of its power generation. Neither water transfers nor desalination can prevent severe economic, social and political dislocation. What is required are massive changes in agriculture, industry and people’s lifestyles which would automatically occur in a free market that allowed water prices to reach their natural price point, which would raise current prices by many times, but, the Chinese Communist party (CCP) runs a command economy, not a free market. With the rule of law and an independent judiciary, which is essential for business and private sector confidence; a free press to help expose corruption or abuse of the environment; civil society, from where ideas, innovation and pressure flow; and political accountability, to encourage officials to work for the benefit of the people and not of themselves or the party, they could be great one day, but, their leadership is far too insecure to risk that. https://www.ft.com/content/233b101e-7d51-11e9-81d2-f785092ab560
True that there is an tremendous effort ongoing by China to get tech info from us justbas there in a horrific effort by Russia to try and weaken us. Too bad tht the Trumpocity is blind to the Russian threat. We also need to remember that we willingly gave up tech and intellectual property to China in order to try and do business with them off cheap products. Now I hear Trumpniks claim that the tariffs by Trump is the long game but Trumpocity today said that the trade negotiations will be done shortly. Someone I not telling the truth. Is it the Trumpocity?
Yes, there is no conflict if we just let them rob us blind. WEAK SPOTS: China warned it should not pin its hopes on Russian soybeans plugging supply gap caused by it's trade war with the US.
China, just like the USA, must forge through the bumps in their road. As more information and education is gained, Chinese will demand change and I predict 1.3 billion Chinese will prevail. If we were 100 years in the past it might be different, but it's not, and today China has a wealth of information, knowledge, technology, and history, to actually do better, in a shorter period of time, than we have in the USA...
