Live data from Hacker News

Currency War: U.S. Hedge Funds Mount New Attacks on China's Yuan

wsj.com

71–80 of 153 posts

Re: Currency War: U.S. Hedge Funds Mount New Attacks on China's Yuan

#71
post #49
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$57 trillion in world debt is something quite unlike a savings glut. And that is just public debt, and it is growing quickly. http://www.economist.com/content/global_debt_clock But in general I agree with your overall statement... everyone talks about China's "ghost cities" as if they are some sort of quixotic or keynesian tomfoolery... but a simpler explanation is simply that China wants to urbanize and grow a middl…

If you save another dollar in the bank, that's another dollar of global debt that the bank owes you - it's how the accounting works.

Right, of course. But ultimately debts are paid back through energy creation, natural resource extraction, tangible assets, and human labor. The accounting details of fractional reserve banking in a debt based monetary system aside, that is a huge sum of human labor that governments have promised... and if that money ever gets paid off it will require the global workforce to work for decades to do it... I would hardly call that a "savings glut".

Re: Currency War: U.S. Hedge Funds Mount New Attacks on China's Yuan

#72
post #41
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly this. China also likes shows of strength, and would be more than happy to expend large amounts of cash to bankrupt the people trying this, rather than lose face being broken by them.

If each Chinese citizen were to sell $1000 worth of yuan back to the Chinese government in return for 1000 USD, a trillion-dollar reserve would be depleted.

I don't get this. My mental image is all the toddlers of Beijing queuing at the banks, with a wad of banknotes in one hand and a pacifier in the other, unsure which one to give to the teller.

Re: Currency War: U.S. Hedge Funds Mount New Attacks on China's Yuan

#73
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>China has a big us against the world mentality And Americans don't? Probably the most paranoid people with such limited understanding of the surrounding world...

No, they don't. They might have "Americans are best", but not Us against the World.

I'll guess your country isn't on this list.

> Instances of the United States overthrowing, or attempting to overthrow, a foreign government since the Second World War. (* indicates successful ouster of a government)

    China 1949 to early 1960s
    Albania 1949-53
    East Germany 1950s
    Iran 1953 *
    Guatemala 1954 *
    Costa Rica mid-1950s
    Syria 1956-7
    Egypt 1957
    Indonesia 1957-8
    British Guiana 1953-64 *
    Iraq 1963 *
    North Vietnam 1945-73
    Cambodia 1955-70 *
    Laos 1958 *, 1959 *, 1960 *
    Ecuador 1960-63 *
    Congo 1960 *
    France 1965
    Brazil 1962-64 *
    Dominican Republic 1963 *
    Cuba 1959 to present
    Bolivia 1964 *
    Indonesia 1965 *
    Ghana 1966 *
    Chile 1964-73 *
    Greece 1967 *
    Costa Rica 1970-71
    Bolivia 1971 *
    Australia 1973-75 *
    Angola 1975, 1980s
    Zaire 1975
    Portugal 1974-76 *
    Jamaica 1976-80 *
    Seychelles 1979-81
    Chad 1981-82 *
    Grenada 1983 *
    South Yemen 1982-84
    Suriname 1982-84
    Fiji 1987 *
    Libya 1980s
    Nicaragua 1981-90 *
    Panama 1989 *
    Bulgaria 1990 *
    Albania 1991 *
    Iraq 1991
    Afghanistan 1980s *
    Somalia 1993
    Yugoslavia 1999-2000 *
    Ecuador 2000 *
    Afghanistan 2001 *
    Venezuela 2002 *
    Iraq 2003 *
    Haiti 2004 *
    Somalia 2007 to present
    Honduras 2009
    Libya 2011 *
    Syria 2012
    Ukraine 2014 *
http://williamblum.org/essays/read/overthrowing-other-people...

Re: Currency War: U.S. Hedge Funds Mount New Attacks on China's Yuan

#75
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that because it is inherently flawed, or because it isn't done correctly?

No true scotsman, huh? Like it or not, power corrupts. the more centralized, the more power, the more corruption.

Transparency negates corruption, centralized or not.

Re: Currency War: U.S. Hedge Funds Mount New Attacks on China's Yuan

#76
post #73
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they don't. They might have "Americans are best", but not Us against the World.

I'll guess your country isn't on this list. > Instances of the United States overthrowing, or attempting to overthrow, a foreign government since the Second World War. (* indicates successful ouster of a government) China 1949 to early 1960s Albania 1949-53 East Germany 1950s Iran 1953 * Guatemala 1954 * Costa Rica mid-1950s Syria 1956-7 Egypt 1957 Indonesia 1957-8 British Guiana 1953-64 * Iraq 1963 * North Vietnam 1…

And they use Fahrenheit.

(We are now three posts away from a HandEgg jpeg.)

Re: Currency War: U.S. Hedge Funds Mount New Attacks on China's Yuan

#77
post #73
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they don't. They might have "Americans are best", but not Us against the World.

I'll guess your country isn't on this list. > Instances of the United States overthrowing, or attempting to overthrow, a foreign government since the Second World War. (* indicates successful ouster of a government) China 1949 to early 1960s Albania 1949-53 East Germany 1950s Iran 1953 * Guatemala 1954 * Costa Rica mid-1950s Syria 1956-7 Egypt 1957 Indonesia 1957-8 British Guiana 1953-64 * Iraq 1963 * North Vietnam 1…

That list is very suspect. Ukrainian government saw an overthrow by the US in 2014? Is it referring to the Ukrainian revolution[0]? This list requires some citations.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Ukrainian_revolution

Re: Currency War: U.S. Hedge Funds Mount New Attacks on China's Yuan

#78
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No true scotsman, huh? Like it or not, power corrupts. the more centralized, the more power, the more corruption.

Transparency negates corruption, centralized or not.

There are lots of corrupt governments that are pretty open and transparent about it.

I'm not sure that transparency can trump centralized power. When you get enough centralized power, you get to do what you want, whatever others think.

Quick google search: http://info-a.wdfiles.com/local--files/resursi/Catharina%20L...

"reforms focusing on increasing transparency should be accompanied by measures for strengthening citizens’ capacity to act upon the available information if we are to see positive effects on corruption. "

Re: Currency War: U.S. Hedge Funds Mount New Attacks on China's Yuan

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought that approach always worked, but it looks like it doesn't for this article. What gives? I thought that was a requirement from Google that users see what the googlebot sees?

If you try to hit the link before googling you'll get paywalled. They Probably stick a cookie on you to prevent you from playing this trick (use another browser or private window).

Just tried it with a private window and it still didn't work. Something different is going on here...

Re: Currency War: U.S. Hedge Funds Mount New Attacks on China's Yuan

#80
post #46
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main problem is a devalued currency stokes inflation, so consumer costs go up (so do producer costs, but that's offset by better export earnings). China is in the middle of a shift from an export-driven economy to a consumption-driven economy, part of the normal development arc of major economies. But increasing export profits at the expense of households pushes that balance in the wrong direction. For more (much…

$57 trillion in world debt is something quite unlike a savings glut. And that is just public debt, and it is growing quickly. http://www.economist.com/content/global_debt_clock But in general I agree with your overall statement... everyone talks about China's "ghost cities" as if they are some sort of quixotic or keynesian tomfoolery... but a simpler explanation is simply that China wants to urbanize and grow a middl…

"$57 trillion in world debt is something quite unlike a savings glut"

That's also $57 trillion in savings. You do realize that someone owns the $57 trillion in debt, right? From the point of view of the owners, that is $57 trillion in savings. If you think debt is all bad, then you are not thinking coherently.

Post reply on HN