Obama backing down on China

[bijou]

The Obama administration backed away from a confrontation with China after Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said during confirmation hearings that “President Obama — backed by the conclusions of a broad range of economists — believes that China is manipulating its currency.”

China immediately hit back, denying that it manipulated its currency to get an unfair trade advantage. Within days, Vice President Joe Biden said on television: “There's been no judgment based in the administration that there has been a manipulation.” That word, he explained, “triggers within trade agreements certain responses.”

And President Obama himself telephoned Hu Jintao to give his Chinese counterpart further reassurances. ...

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[thundley4]

I just read yesterday where over 26,000,000 people have lost jobs in China. That would tell me that it is not a good time to provoke a trade war with China just to satisfy the unions here in the US.

[formerlurker]

I just read yesterday where over 26,000,000 people have lost jobs in China. That would tell me that it is not a good time to provoke a trade war with China just to satisfy the unions here in the US.

The number is probably 6+ times that amount.   The migrant factory workers have been hit hard, and they are dirt poor.   For a communist country, this spells major trouble.     They have been considering their own stimulus package to deal with their internal issues, but I don't see it being at all affective.

China is tied at the hip to the US.   We hurt, they hurt.   

[bijou]

The number is probably 6+ times that amount.   The migrant factory workers have been hit hard, and they are dirt poor.   For a communist country, this spells major trouble.     They have been considering their own stimulus package to deal with their internal issues, but I don't see it being at all affective.

China is tied at the hip to the US.   We hurt, they hurt.   

So the matter needs to be handled with tact and diplomacy? Little chance of that happening. 

[formerlurker]

So the matter needs to be handled with tact and diplomacy? Little chance of that happening. 

Tact and diplomacy?   No.   China's goal is to be the only military superpower, as they understand that is where respect comes from in this world.     They are far behind the US in that regard, but are far more capable of obtaining their goal than the Soviet Union ever was (although they have hit a significant bump in the road).

Lethal reminders of who their #1 trading partner is can and should be made outside of the press.    China also needs to be reminded that North Korea is their problem.   The recent flexing of muscles from North Korea needs to be squashed.   We aren't cleaning up that mess for them.

[JohnnyReb]

Obama....put your crown down....now back away slowly....and keep your mouth shut.

[Jim]

as we all knew, the O is oh for everything because he's a freakin inexperienced nincompoop.

[thundley4]

0bama wants to eat at the big table with the grown ups, but they keep kicking the high chair out from under him. 

[Chris_]

as we all knew, the O is oh for everything because he's a freakin inexperienced nincompoop.

This must be the "change" the new fuhrer spoke of -- pissing off our largest trading partner and owner of most of our debt.