Something’s going on with the US dollar and it’s not good — it’s worrisome.
My first clue was when it was reported:
This week, in an unusual move, the Bush administration is sending virtually the entire economic “A-team” to visit China for a “strategic economic dialogue” in Beijing Dec. 14 and 15.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke are leading the delegation, along with five other cabinet-level officials, including Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez. Also in the delegation will be Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, Energy Secretary Sam Bodman, and U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab.
Also:
China today now is holding a historically unprecedented $1 trillion in foreign exchange reserves. During the Thanksgiving holiday, an announcement by China that their central bank planned to diversify foreign-exchange holding away from the dollar caused the dollar to drop in value on international currency markets. Since then, the dollar has hit a 20-month low against the euro.
The Euro is stronger. What will happen when the first Chinese bank embraces the Euro and drops the dollar?
Moreover, how can this be?
The Drudge Report features a headline this hour reading: HOLIDAY HIGH, DOW SURPASSES 12,400:
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks climbed on Thursday, boosted by surprisingly high earnings from investment bank Bear Stearns Co. Inc. and economists’ bullish estimates for stock indexes performance next year.
CNN Money reports today:
Investors also considered a report that showed a surprisingly large drop in the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment last week.
Also a factor: the possibility of the Democrats losing control of the Senate amid news that a senator from South Dakota was in critical condition after suffering a brain hemorrhage. (Full story)
U.S. light crude oil for January delivery gained $1.14 to $62.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after OPEC said it would cut production by 500,000 barrels per day starting Feb. 1.
Treasury prices fell, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note rising to 4.60 percent from 4.58 percent late Wednesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite
directions. In currency trading, the dollar rose against the yen and euro.COMEX February gold slipped $1.50 to settle at $630.90 an ounce.
Even the White House is saying: “USA Today/Gallup Poll Estimated Consumers Plan To Spend More Than $800 On Gifts This Season. The estimate is the “highest early November reading Gallup has seen since 2000,” suggesting a “strong holiday season” for retailers.
But John Williams, author of The Shadow Government Statistics blog believes:
There will be a central bank, most probably in Asia, who will start the move away from the dollar and when it happens, you’re going to see other central bankers covertly trying to follow. The move will magnify very quickly and it could become a full-fledged panic and a dollar collapse.”
The Fed is struggling right now to contain inflation and stimulate economic growth. All the Fed is doing right now with all their grand policy shifts is using a lot of propaganda and market massaging to try to prevent a financial panic.”
Jerome Corsi of the WorldNetDaily writes:
A report scheduled to be released by the Treasury Department tomorrow is expected to show the true deficit in the Bush administration’s 2006 federal budget to be an astounding $3.5 trillion in the red, not $248.2 billion as previously reported.
The United States is bankrupt,” Williams insisted. “With less than one-tenth of the actual deficit being reported each year, a cumulative negative net worth exceeding $50 trillion has built up in stealth to where the total obligations of the U.S. government are now more than four times our annual gross domestic product.
Indeed the unfolding fiscal nightmare likely will entail a U.S. hyperinflation and a resulting collapse in the value of the world’s primary reserve currency, the dollar. When this starts to unravel it will unravel fast. I don’t know whether it will be the dominant issue in the 2008 presidential election, but I believe it will be by 2012.”
Are our “giveaway” federal fiscal policies finally, finally beginning to catch up with us? And will the government and the media be complicit in hiding this information from citizens?
You realize, of course, that’s how the USSR was defeated: the US simply outspent the USSR defensively, to the point where we bankrupted the entire union.
So, despite a record DOW and unemployment claims trending down, WHY are Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, Energy Secretary Sam Bodman and U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab on a junket to Beijing today and tomorrow?
The new dialogue was announced in September during a trip to Beijing by Paulson, who hailed the forum as a way of tackling the longer-term challenges to the world economy thrown up by China’s headlong growth.
But speaking in London earlier Tuesday, Paulson acknowledged that “the need for greater currency flexibility” on the Chinese yuan was a short-term headache facing US-China relations. The United States and other nations argue the yuan is made artificially weak, giving the Asian giant an unfair advantage in global trade.
The US trade deficit with China in September reached a record 23 billion dollars, one-third of the total US trade gap.
Paulson, addressing the Confederation of British Industry’s annual conference, said US relations with China had suffered from “a fair amount of tension” over perceptions that their bilateral trade is unfairly skewed.
I detect an even greater amount of concern than publically portrayed. Any economists out there with thoughts?
BZ
BZ,
Why do I think the ‘solution’ will be to form a select ‘study group’ consisting of old-time policy wonks? Yikes!
BBI: Gosh, please allow me to attempt to answer that:
Because it would be “INCLUSIVE” instead of “exclusive” and would give “everyone” a “chance” to “express” their true “feelings” because, as you and I well know, “feelings” (nothing more than feelings!) are INFINITELY more important than FACTS.
BZ
BTW, am I correct — did you do away with your blog?
BZ
12 14 06
Margaret Thatcher was really, really, really a visionary when it came to this. She vehemently was against a unifying Euro currency because she felt that it was a ‘back door’ way to globalizing EVERYTHING. And here we are. I think it so interesting how our administration bitches about those who commit human rights abuses (like Mr. Hussein and the folk in Darfur) YET we actually will get in bed with CHINA? I smell hypocritical rats and these rats have infiltrated all of government independent of party.
I am more of a Thatcherite than I ever thought because I don’t believe that we should all be under one world currency.
BTW I also believe in the PRIME DIRECTIVE. If some countries are poor and undeveloped, perhaps they are like that for a reason. The citizens of those places have to come into their own consciousness about advancing themselves and I believe they should be left alone to do it. Every time we interfere with folk who are not as technologically or democratically advanced as we are, we always get a REALLLLLLLLY bum deal. I am sick and tired of this non sensical behavior and believe that countries should have their own money!
B Zep,
It is just like I said that America, is gradually deterioration internally and externally our influence in the world is diminishing. I see now that all of those people who labeled me crazy and disagreed with me are now seeing it my way. That makes me feel good. I win in the end YEAHHHHHHH! China will replace America as a super power America and China will fight and China will economically and militarily. America will loose a lot of middle class people to poverty and this will set off rebellion like it did in Germany. A racial war in side of America will ensue due to blaming other for the economic woe.
DISA,
Mahndisa Rigmaiden said: BTW I also believe in the PRIME DIRECTIVE. If some countries are poor and undeveloped, perhaps they are like that for a reason. The citizens of those places have to come into their own consciousness about advancing themselves and I believe they should be left alone to do it. Every time we interfere with folk who are not as technologically or democratically advanced as we are, we always get a REALLLLLLLLY bum deal. I am sick and tired of this non sensical behavior and believe that countries should have their own money!
The best said: You got that from me that is what I have been saying at other blogs, that you go to and harass me at. When I said that countries are undeveloped mainly due to their own problems, mahndisa called me a racist who hates non-whites and love white folks. Now you come over her sounding like me, I have noticed that often, the people who criticize me steal my opinions and go to other blogs — and use the info to impress people with there knowledge that they stole from me.
What hypocrisy the more I read your comments the more Mahndisa you imitate me and my opinions but you say only idiots and fools value my words. You finally have agreed with me on genetics at the other blog. I always said that genetics is part of the reason but culture, environment, etc are the other reasons that explain why certain groups are the way they are. And you finally agreed me at the other blog thank you for that. So I guess idiots and fools and intelligent people listened too me.
There is nothing more satisfying for me than to see people agreeing with me, and distancing themselves from their former opinions.
I am becoming more and more popular on the internet people and websites ands blogs of all racial groups are countries are linking and reading me at other websites and blogs. This is because I help other blogs with my presence and opinions etc.
You get what you give out.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
To B Zep
I have noticed that when you posted about how your reader ship had declined, that’s when certain commenters who only commented on your blog once a week started commenting more frequently. They do this not because they really like your writings, they do it out of sympathy, and this is not good. They are not being honest with you. Sooner or later they will drift back to only coming infrequently. You got all of those people on your blogroll, and they don’t come by very much, and the ones who do they come by very infrequently like once a week.
Example I will use Mahndisa, she only came by once a week also, when I looked into your archives then I saw where she did not come by for weeks and would go whole weeks without commenting. Then you have other people on your blogroll who come by once a month and others who don’t come by hardly at all. But yet you BZ, keep these people on your blog roll. I have seen you go by their blogs, and comment. People who don’t support you should be delinked. But if they don’t support you very much, and they have you linked to their blogs then keep them linked.
But people showing up commenting frequently because you (BZ) said that your reader ship has deteriorated these commenters are showing up out of sympathy, and that is dishonest. Readers and commenters y’all should Show up because you all like the post and want to comment.
But the reality is, they did not show up so frequently, because they simply find the blog semi boring. I am just being honest BZ, and which you should appreciate because these people here (commenters and readers) will not tell the real truth because they don’t want to offend you.
I actually enjoy your posts, that’s why I come by so frequently, but I slowed down if you notice because I said this my to self, BZ could possibly feel un comfortable with me commenting with these strong comments too much. So let me stop commenting a lot.
Also, you should never, never, want commenters who agree with you all of the time, because then your blog will become boring and this is a reason why commenters stop coming by so much. Because people all agree and this makes it no fun. Notice I don’t agree with you all the time, and sometimes I do, and sometimes I add another way old looking at things, and sometimes I add more to what you have already said. I told mahndisa that if she did certain things here blog would deteriorate, and have fewer commenters, she did not listen, and my predication came to past. I knew that many of here older commenters and readers would stop coming by and they (majority) did stop visiting like I predicted.
I can tell you how to increase your readership and commenters BZ.
We went through this already up here. We had a huge deficite, for a small country, our dollar dropped to the low 60’s U.S., and it was a struggle. But it encouraged everyone to by local, and slow down imports. It’s no longer a question of if this is going to happen, but when, and the key is how fast. If it’s a slow transition, it’s not bad, but it will probably be fast and wake a lot of people up. Our downfall was LIEberlaism, and the switch back to conservative policies has strengthened us, and got us out of a bit of trouble, but were tied to you when it comes to china. You go down, we do as well….. so you could kind of say… were in this together.
Well BZ, I’m only coming by because I feel sorry for you, with your readership in disaray I only stop by to offer tidbits of comments so I can stay on your blogrolls… What a crock….
I come to your site because I enjoy your writing. However the times one comes by is dictated by other things rather than a slight to you. Like Family, Job, outside interests…
Now back to the Post.
I have no idea why the trip to Bejing, But now that you brought this up I find myself a little more concerned….I’m going to dig into this a little more…
To Bushwack
Bushwack said: Well BZ, I’m only coming by because I feel sorry for you, with your readership in disaray I only stop by to offer tidbits of comments so I can stay on your blogrolls… What a crock….
I come to your site because I enjoy your writing. However the times one comes by is dictated by other things rather than a slight to you. Like Family, Job, outside interests…
The best: It’s true in some cases that Job, family, and out side interest keeps some people from visiting BZ. But that is not the case in the majority of his commenters and people on his blogroll. Because I have seen many of the people on his blogroll, at other blogs commenting. I have seen you Bushwack, over at peace on that commenting a lot and, you did not come by Bloviating Zeppelin’s blog on those days. BZ has also, seen you over at other blogs and then you did not comment on BZ’s blog. Mahndisa, for example has wet over to two different blogs and attacked me. On one blog she has let over 10 long comments or more at a blog I was commenting on.
Like I say, many people who will now show up and start commenting more frequently are not doing it because of loving BZ, they are doing it because of shame. Because they know he supports them but they have not been as supportive of him.
I’m not an economist so I can’t help you on that one, but I can say I visit you because I like you. I don’t visit anyone because I feel sorry for them. What a crock!
Great post, although I can’t help hoping in this case that where there’s smoke there is no fire.
Wow, this comment section went all over the scope, including Sympathy For The Devil.
I’m no economist; I’m only sufficiently knowledgeable to have my radar screen activate when things I consider “out of the norm” occur. And then I wonder, as would most who would know of it, why an A+ Team is sent by the US to China. An A+ Team that deals not only with trade (which one would customarily understand) but with the DOLLAR as well. I do not believe, in my limited mental memory, when I can recall any prior Fed Chairman, including Greenspan, taking off with a passel of Cabinet Members for foreign pieces of the planet. Okay; a very SPECIFIC foreign piece of the planet.
A final word for Chance: okay, I’ll accept those words, but they are on their face insulting that persons “visit” my blog out of sympathy. TTLB doesn’t log whether or not someone truly “reads” the various posts, it merely documents the traffic. If I, for example, take the time out of my schedule to visit a blog I do so to read the posts and not merely to become a stat. Sometimes I wonder what you are thinking.
BZ
ABF: We ARE in this together, unified by a continent!
BZ
10 20 08
BZ:
Almost two years ago, this post was quite prophetic. I figured I would post on it today considering its relevance in the current crisis!