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U.S. Designates China as Currency Manipulator

wsj.com

221–230 of 356 posts

Re: U.S. Designates China as Currency Manipulator

#221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

America has free markets and a decentralized, bottom-up system that results in entrepreneurs and private entities deciding how to allocate capital. There may be temporary pain but wherever there is opportunity an entrepreneur will step in. China has zombie enterprises, their financial statements are lies, and cities built by bureaucratic maneuvering over market need. I will always bet on the American private sector o…

America’s cities are based on zoning laws designed to do racism in 1900, and the rest is based on the federal highway system. Not very free market either way.

> America’s cities are based on zoning laws

These can and do change, with a single city council meeting. There's nothing impregnable about existing zoning. As usual, the dollar dictates the rules (having been party to 2! eminent domain proceedings in Southern California).

Re: U.S. Designates China as Currency Manipulator

#222
post #52

Well, that's rich. Especially since dollars (which the US has "license to print", manipulate, change interest rates, subsidize whole industries, etc.) have been forced as the world's trade currency for close to a century...

I was with you until the word "forced". Who forced anyone?

Re: U.S. Designates China as Currency Manipulator

#223

How is Currency Manipulator different than quantitative easing which everyone does?

China sets the price of its currency directly. QE indirectly affects the price of your currency by manipulating the price of your bonds.

That doesn't answer the question. No reasonably advanced manipulator of any system is content to operate only on the most visible level of influence.

So the question really is, how different is a direct manipulation from an ongoing secondary manipulation?

Re: U.S. Designates China as Currency Manipulator

#224

3% stock market movements set in motion by the US president alone. "Great" insider trading potential. Have someone set up the right derivatives strategy and bam: instant millions. I couldn't convince myself to immediately write that idea off as utter nonsense. Anyone with more relevant financial experience? Can you reassure me this would be difficult to pull off? Or would you have to confirm this would be difficult t…

Even IF this were the case, Insider trading has been allowed in congress for a long time. There was the STOCK act passed in 2012 to prevent it, the very next year it was amended to get rid of strict disclosure requirements. Nancy Pelosi for example (speaker of the democrat majority house) is worth 140 million dollars. One has to wonder how a life time politician has managed to get that much wealth.

You could have just googled this years ago

Re: U.S. Designates China as Currency Manipulator

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Russia has the population of Nigeria and the GDP of Italy. The cold war ended a while ago. Worrying about them today makes about as much sense as worrying about Autria in 1930 because Austrohungaria used to be a world power.

They have a large nuclear arsenal.

And a large military, are actively involved in cyberwarfare and psychological warfare, hacking US elections, and veto rights on the UN Security Council. Plus a history of getting many countries into its sphere of influence.

It’s foolish to discount them.

Re: U.S. Designates China as Currency Manipulator

#226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Russia has the population of Nigeria and the GDP of Italy. The cold war ended a while ago. Worrying about them today makes about as much sense as worrying about Autria in 1930 because Austrohungaria used to be a world power.

They have a large nuclear arsenal.

Which might not mean as much as you think, thanks to the doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_assured_destruction)

Re: U.S. Designates China as Currency Manipulator

#227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But what happens to all that cash they would use to buy the treasuries with? Where is that $1.1 trillion going to flow into?

Whoever sells the treasuries gets the money. That's how buying and selling works.

You understand that China is unlikely to just leave the cash sitting around, aren't you? That money will probably end up being dumped on Forex crashing the US dollar.

Re: U.S. Designates China as Currency Manipulator

#228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From that perspective, what is arguably good about this trade war continuing?

Its a battle for who is the world economic power in 20 or 30 years. The american public doesn't understand what is at stake here. Unfortunately the media is calling Trump a buffoon, when the trade war, and possible subsequent economic hit to the USA, is vital to our long term economic future.

Yea but what about 50 years? 100? 300? I don’t see a world where the US can maintain hegemony forever, it’s going to be multilateral.

Re: U.S. Designates China as Currency Manipulator

#229
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not even days. I lost $24k today, and $60k since last week. The thing that keeps you calm though is that sometimes it’s amazing how much money you can actually make in a matter of days, or a single day.

This means you have about a million dollars in stock investments alone, which you put you in a different class.

I'm not sure why that should have anything to do with it. Like anyone else I still feel the pain of losing thousands of dollars, and I still get the dopamine rush from seeing the numbers going up and turning green. The only difference is that I have more of it.

Re: U.S. Designates China as Currency Manipulator

#230
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every country manipulates its own currency, to some degree. It is sort of the point of having a federal bank. It is useful for the prices of things to not change drastically day to day. That said - the degree to which the US Fed does things is different.

To clarify: by "federal bank" the parent means "central bank".

Ah yes sorry, American centric term. The US fed is the equivalent of e.g. ecb or pbc

The naming on pbc always confuses me because there's also a bc which is now spun off if you squint at it the right way

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