SEARCH
Time to Take Tough Action Against China Currency Manipulation
The manipulation of its currency by China’s government is the major problem facing American manufacturing. It’s past time the U.S. government muster the will to take strong action, even imposing emergency tariffs, to level the playing field, several experts, including economist Paul Krugman and United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard, said yesterday.
Speaking at the forum on “Currency Manipulation: How Should the U.S. Respond?” sponsored by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) with the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), Robert Scott, EPI’s senior economist, said China’s currency manipulation has cost between 1.5 million and 3 million good American manufacturing jobs.
Fred Bergsten, director of the conservative Peterson Institute for International Economics, added:
If there is going to be a serious jobs program, the exchange rate of the dollar must be at the center of the debate.
The methods that previous administrations have used to deal with the problem, which include “sweet reason,” have not worked, Scott said, and it’s time we “use a baseball bat” and impose strong tariffs on imports from countries such as China that undervalue their currencies.
The AFL-CIO, U.S. manufacturers and many economic experts maintain that China deliberately undervalues its currency to keep the value artificially low so it can boost exports and discourage imports—running up the U.S. trade deficit and costing good American jobs. An AFL-CIO report shows China’s fixed currency rate artificially lowers the price of its goods by 40 percent, effectively subsidizing China’s exports, putting U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage and creating a record trade deficit.
Scott and Gerard said the United States needs a multistep approach to rebuilding our manufacturing. First, the U.S. Treasury Department must declare China as a country that manipulates currency, which would set off a process by which the administration can impose trade penalties. Next, Congress and the Obama administration must do what previous administrations have not done since the Nixon and Reagan years and impose tariffs on goods made in China.
William Jones, chairman of Cummins-Allison Corp. in Chicago, said that unless the playing field is leveled in currency markets, more and more businesses will close.
Detroit is our future if we don’t wake up and smell the coffee.
He says our lawmakers are living in a dream world and don’t seem to realize that China and other nations are not playing by the rules of free trade.
Krugman, a Nobel laureate, says it’s imperative to act now because the world economy is in worse shape than it ever has been and the capital surplus that China has built up through its currency manipulation “comes at the expense of everyone else.” He points out that other countries like India and Mexico are suffering even worse job losses than the United States because of China’s currency policy.
But fixing the China currency problem is not the final solution, Gerard said. The nation also needs a national manufacturing policy. The American people were sold “a bill of goods” by Wall Street that we could prosper by deregulating financial markets and focusing on free trade—both have failed miserably, he said.
 |
Become a Fan on Facebook |  |
Follow Us on Twitter |  |
Subscribe to YouTube |  |
Subscribe to Blog RSS | ||||
7 Comments
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by PeoplesWorld: AFL-CIO: Time to Take Tough Action Against China Currency Manipulation http://bit.ly/bNRkI3...
I think we must stop China’s currency manipulation. Use sanctions if we must.
How about another “Made in USA” campaign? To those who don’t care whether or not the products we buy are made in this country or not, are contributing to the loss of US manufacturing jobs as well.
In the lead post on this blog you demand that we make “Wall Street Pay” and you counter that with this post which is nothing more then fronting for the Wall Street interests. In fact your saying what they won’t say and just what kind of tough action do you mean?
There is no doubt in my mind, and in others also, that the U.S. capitalist and world capitalist system is in terminal decay and the way many of the parisites invision in saving it is by a war with China and bringing the world’s largest market under the control of unbridled capitalism. The U.S. military has for the last 60 years done all in it’s power to flank China starting with the Korean War. Since the only way the U.S. got out of the Great Depression was by the Second World War the stench that is capitalism believe they can do it again and could care less about the human and material costs.
That the AFL-CIO leadership is pushing such policy should convince the most naive that they are tied wallet, idealogically and physically to the bosses they claim to confront.
i thought that the below article on the U.S. and world debt crisis very interesting as it proves that the problems with the U.S. and world economy is the spending policies of the various governments and has nothing at all to do with China or any other countries trade policies.
Why does no demand that we abolish the debt come from the AFL-CIO headquarters? To close to the bosses is the answer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/business/global/16rating.html?hp
The below article indicats that China can easily counter U.S. currency moves and believe me they would put a major hurt on the U.S. economy so all the saber rattlers should look before they leap.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/03/15/national/w060527D58.DTL&tsp=1
I’m back from the dead to haunt them for ever!
There are two and enslave a nation. One is by the sword, the other is by DEBT”.
John Adams 1735 – 1826 The second President of the United States.
“None are more hopelessly enslaved then those who falsely believe they are free.”
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe 1749 – 1832
Benjamin Franklin was quoted saying, “The primary reason for the Revolutionary War was to stop the Bank of England”; (charging high interest for the loans to build the colonies, it was not only the tax on tea), and that’s what the FED has been doing to us for over 95 years now. Dec. 23, 1913 – Dec. 23, 2008
“They, who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.”
Benjamin Franklin Bush’s Patriot Act?
ways to conquer
“The People of the United States of American have the best constitution in the World; however they have the most corrupt Government”. The Premier of India
“Permit me to issue (print) and control the money of a nation and I care not who makes its laws”.
Mayer Anslem Rothschild; he had 5 sons he sent to Austria, Italy, France, Germany, and England. They all opened bank and loaned money. They hedge their investments by financed both sides of most every war sense.
“The Federal Reserve”. They also intermarried… Their all cousins.
2008, Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain was indorsed by Rothschild.
And there’s The IMF, The World Bank, these are all corrupt institutions, enslaving and rapping the world.
Benjamin Franklin was quoted saying, “The primary reason for the Revolutionary War was to stop the Bank of England”; (charging high interest for the loans to build the colonies, it was not only the tax on tea).
Condemned by Jefferson with this stinging comment:
“I sincerely believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a money aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs.” Thomas Jefferson 1801–1809
The Central Bank that preceded the Federal Reserve Bank
“The bold efforts of the present bank has made to control the Government, are but premonitions of the fate that awaits the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution, or the establishment of another like it.” President Andrew Jackson, 1829 – 1839
A half century later Lincoln said:
“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country….corporations and bankers have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.”
President Abraham Lincoln, February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865
Lincoln refused to pay Europe bankers usurious rates to finance the Civil War and got Congress to pass the 1862 Legal Tender Act. It empowered the US Treasury to issue “greenbacks” that were interest-free because government printed its own money. When Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, the “Greenback Law” was rescinded. A new national banking act was passed, and the government once again had to pay interest to bankers.
“Slavery is but the owning of labor and carries with it the care of laborers, while the “European plan” is that capital shall control labor by controlling wages.” “This can be done by controlling the money.” “It will not do to allow the “Greenback”, as we cannot control that.” The Hazard Circular July 1862
The only way to truly fix this so called economic crisis that has been allowed to perpetuate for decades is to print our own interest free money as stated in our constitution. Article 1, section 8 of the constitution only “United States Notes” are legal tender. This counterfeit interest bearing money says “Federal Reserve Note.”
On June 4, 1963, President Kennedy issued executive order (EO) 11110 giving the president authority to issue currency. He ordered the treasury to begin printing “United States (Treasury) Notes” to replace “Federal Reserve Notes.” He began a process to let government control its own money and no longer private bankers under the guise of the Federal Reserve.
, Months later President Kennedy was assassinated. Once Lyndon Johnson took office, he rescinded EO 11110 and reestablished the current system.
“1963 Kennedy Dollar”, says “United States Note”, not Federal Reserve Note. This was the only legal money printed in the United States, sense Dec. 23, 1913.
Note, My Father was a coin collector and I’ve seen 500 “Kennedy Dollars.” After Kennedy’s assassination on Nov 22, 1963, the FBI was ordered to confiscate every “Kennedy Dollar” they could get their hands on.
“The high office of the President of the United States of America has been used to format a plot to destroy America’s freedom, and before I leave office I must inform the citizens of their plight!” President John F. Kennedy, while speaking at Columbus University. November 13, 1963 He was Assonated Nov 22, 1963
Henry Ford, Sr. said “If the people of this nation understood our banking and monetary system, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.”
Senator Louis T. McFadden, Chairman of the Banking & Currency Commission for 22 years, said; The Federal Reserve is one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever seen.
“Some people think the Federal Reserve Banks are United States Government Institution. They are private credit monopolies which prey upon the people of the United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign customers.” Congressman Louis T. McFadden, Chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee, June 20, 1932
George W. Malone, U.S. Senator Nevada speaking before Congress 1957: “I believe that if the people of this nation understood what Congress has done to them over the past 45 years, they would move on Washington. They would not wait for an election. It adds up a preconceived plan to destroy the economy and social independence of the United States!”
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exist and will persist. President Dwight D. Eisenhower
“100% of what is collected is absorbed solely by interest on the Federal Debt … all individual income tax revenues are gone before one nickel is spent on the services taxpayers expect from government.” Grace Commission Report, submitted to President Ronald Reagan January 15, 1984
Former Congressman Bob Dole, in 1995 said “all personal IRS tax went to pay the INTEREST on the National Debt.”
Congressmen Ron Paul has been talking about this for the last 35 years now.
If you truly want to understand this fractional money system, read “Modern Money Mechanics
China has the usa by the balls wake up people we are gonna be in for a fight for are lives soon. we need to bounce back for good and out do the chinese . they work very hard. we are slacking. what do you expect. anyway im glad to see someone stand up to the chinese