China

China in Their Own Words

If the yuan isn’t stable, it will bring disaster to China and the world. If we increase the yuan by 20 percent-40 percent as some people are calling for, many of our factories will shut down and society will be in turmoil. If China’s economy goes down, it’s not good for the world economy.

This is China Premier Wen Jiabao, as quoted by Bloomberg News.

Get that? The United States should continue to export jobs to China as some sort of global social program. We should continue to give the Chinese people our jobs so they won't raise hell and revolt. We should allow China to continue to manipulate it's currency, capturing global manufacturing capabilities to keep the Chinese government in power. Wow. Maybe we should import Chinese potential social unrest, for the United States policies are stiffing the U.S. worker and the cries from the Populist are a muted whimper.

Jiabao also chastised the EU for joining the United States in demanding China re-evaluate their currency and blamed the United States for currency fluctuations. Businessweek:

Europe shouldn’t join the choir to press China to allow more yuan appreciation. The euro had a big fluctuation recently. It’s not because of yuan but the dollars. We shouldn’t be blamed for it; if there’s someone to be questioned, it should be the U.S.

China's Currency Manipulation Makes America See Red

A little noticed bill was voted out of committee Friday from the House Ways and Means Committee, H.R. 2378, the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act. This bill finally addresses China's currency manipulation by enabling tariffs. It passed out of committee by voice vote and all it will take to pass is to hear from constituents demanding Congress do so. The Senate version of the bill is S. 3134.

Geithner Hearts China with Tough Love?

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testified today before the Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Committee. The headlines blaze with a Geithner quote, it is past time for China to move on Yuan re-evaluation, as if some sort of action might actually happen against China and their currency manipulation.

In reading Geithner's hearing testimony, we have this:

We have very significant economic interests in our relationship with China. With over 1.3 billion people and an economy continuing to grow at or near double-digit rates, China is our fastest-growing major overseas market. China’s record of bringing hundreds of millions out of poverty, building a rapidly growing middle class, and now its efforts to encourage growth led by domestic demand, ultimately mean more demand for American goods and services. Increasing opportunities for U.S. firms and workers through expanded trade and investment with China will be an important part of the success of the President’s National Export Initiative and our efforts to support job growth more broadly.

The Way the World Works

By Numerian
Chances are if you are a typical American consumer you have purchased something made by Foxconn Technology Group. This giant Taiwanese-owned company is under contract to make Sony’s Playstation, the Xbox 360, the Wii, motherboards for Intel, routers for Cisco, and Apple’s iPhone, iPod, and iPad. As profitable as Foxconn is, it is in a fundamental sense a failure of capitalism. At a time when machine tools and robotics are available to make these products at high speeds, Foxconn uses manual labor to craft tens of thousands of electronic devices each hour, 24 hours a day. (Image)

To accomplish this, Foxconn employs over 800,000 workers in mainland China alone, and 420,000 of them at a massive “campus” in Shenzen. The workers in Shenzen are required to live on campus in dormitories with bunk beds, cafeterias, a medical unit, and a few recreational facilities. The overwhelming number of them range in age from 18 to 24, have moved to Shenzen from rural villages with no job opportunities, work six days a week at the factory for 10 hours a day including overtime, and make about $130 a month.

About that Chinese March 2010 Trade Deficit, Can you even trust their numbers?

As expected, the China March trade deficit is being used as political cannon fodder to claim China does not manipulate it's currency. (Uh, yes they do).

Firstly, the numbers

The $7.24 billion trade deficit in March reported Saturday by China's customs administration was China's first since a $2.26 billion deficit in April 2004.

The claim is imports rose 60% from January to March, 2010.

Exports $112.11 billion in March, up 24.3 percent from a year earlier. Imports reached $119.35 billion, up 66 percent compared to the same period last year.

In the first three months of this year, China still posted a global trade surplus of $14.5 billion, down 76.7 percent from the first quarter of 2009. The trade surplus was $7.6 billion in February and the combined January-February surplus was $21.8 billion.

2.4 million jobs lost due to China from 2001-2008

That's right. 2.4 million jobs lost in 8 years can be directed attributed to China.

Since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, 2.4 million jobs have been lost or displaced in the United States as a result of the burgeoning trade deficit with that nation

Dr. Robert Scott, International Economist for the Economic Policy Institute, has a new paper, Unfair China Trade Costs Local Jobs and it's well researched, damning. The AAM has published the report in an easy scrolling presentation on the AAM website.

The research paper's bullet points are reprinted below:

China - The Ultimate Protectionist

When you hear how the United States doesn't want to be protectionist, please remember that's just spin to ensure we do the will of China.

A new 2009 annual report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission is out. Below are selected excerpts that should make the hair on your head stand on end in OMG panic.

China encourages foreign manufacturing to relocate to China and uses strict capital controls to keep the value of the RMB artificially low.

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