Senate passes bill limiting detainee treatment

[Dinner]

I do regret letting China walk Scot free on its trade abuses. It seems clear that the Chinese have intentionally devalued their currency in order to steal jobs. They've made some minor adjustments lately but nothing like letting it freely float which is the only way we should let them have any sort of privilaged access to our markets. What we ought to do is make a trade block with the EU which requires others to meet certain goals in order to get access.

If they don't like it they can find some where else to sell there goods.

[Imran Siddiqui]

You are going to blame the Chinese for manipulating their currency? What do you think messing about with the money supply (raising and lowering interest rates) does?

You try to talk tough with the Chinese on letting their yuan freely float, they'll probably turn around and demand that we stop manipulating our currency by fiddling with interest rates!

[Dinner]

Big rolleyes soup for you.

There is a huge difference from saying the government is the only ones who can change currencies legally and having the market do it.

[Imran Siddiqui]

There is a huge difference from saying the government is the only ones who can change currencies legally and having the market do it.

Change currencies, as in currency exchange?

The Chinese devaluation is basically the same thing as manipulating interest rates, just a more heavy handed way to do the same thing.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


Yeah, that irrational exuberance that causes Exxon and Worldcom and all those other companies to rip off the public had nothing to do with the business environment engendered by Clinton.

History is full of examples where people make decisions or take certain action without fully knowing what the future consequences will be.

I do disagree with some of Clinton's policies in regards to the economy, but I won't swallow the idea that he consciously had this conspiracy plan, forseeing the future in which he could set things up for Exxon and Enron to walk all over their employees.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Does anyone still not believe that McCain would have made a better President then Bush . . .

Nominate McCain. Get me to vote Republican.

[Zkribbler]

quote:
Originally posted by chegitz guevara

Yeah, that irrational exuberance that causes Exxon and Worldcom and all those other companies to rip off the public had nothing to do with the business environment engendered by Clinton.

More precisely:
...initiated by Reagan's push for deregulation and perpetuated by the administrations of Papa Bush and Clinton.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Ain't that something... Dems yell at Republicans who say the boom of the 90s was an offshoot of Reagan's deregulation and cutting red tape.. but then say all the corporate scandels were because of Reagan's deregulation and cutting red tape...

Having your cake and eating it too?

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui


Having your cake and eating it too?

Yes, that is what I want, damn you!

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Having your cake and eating it too?

MmmMMmmmMmm, cake!

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

There is a huge difference from saying the government is the only ones who can change currencies legally and having the market do it.

Change currencies, as in currency exchange?

The Chinese devaluation is basically the same thing as manipulating interest rates, just a more heavy handed way to do the same thing.

Not at all. A fixed currency board (what china had until a month or two ago) means the government sets the rates, period. No market forces are allowed and this creates major inbalances in trade. A almost entirely fixed currency board allows for tiny, tiny, tiny changes (if the government approves) but nothing compared to what true market forces would excert on a floated currency.

Changing the interest rate charged by central banks, and thus the rate of return on government securities, is not at all subverting the market. It is just saying how much the government will pay you if you decide to invest with them. Trying to claim that interest rates from the central bank is like a currency board just shows you have no idea what a currency board is or what the central bank (in the US's case the Federal Reserve Board) does.

[mrmitchell]

Nominate McCain. Get me to vote Republican.

Better President than Bush? Yes. Of course.

But people forget that for the most part he has still voted with, and is, Republican...

[Imran Siddiqui]

A fixed currency board (what china had until a month or two ago) means the government sets the rates, period. No market forces are allowed and this creates major inbalances in trade. A almost entirely fixed currency board allows for tiny, tiny, tiny changes (if the government approves) but nothing compared to what true market forces would excert on a floated currency.

Changing the interest rate charged by central banks, and thus the rate of return on government securities, is not at all subverting the market. It is just saying how much the government will pay you if you decide to invest with them. Trying to claim that interest rates from the central bank is like a currency board just shows you have no idea what a currency board is or what the central bank (in the US's case the Federal Reserve Board) does.

Please, it amounts to the same thing. Simply because one is engaging in manipulations using the market while the other is just manipulating by itself is no reason to create a difference.

The only reason you think there is one is because one is done by China and the other is done by the US. It is quite easy for the US to devalue our money by using market forces to our ends (either by playing with interest rates or printing a **** load of money and putting it into circulation).

I mean really WHY do you think the Fed lowers or raises interest rates? For what purpose? If you answered to manipulate the actions of people in the market to go in the direction the government wants them to (based on looser or tighter monetary policy) then you'd be correct.

And being that I graduated with an economics degree I know full well what the Fed does and what currency boards do.