China: “We will favor stronger currencies over weaker ones, and will readjust accordingly.”

[milkyway]

From the NY Times tonight:

The most immediate trigger for the sell-off in the dollar, traders said, was a jarring signal that suggested China might shift some of its enormous hoard of dollars and dollar-denominated assets — more than $1.4 trillion — into other currencies to get a better return on its money.

“We will favor stronger currencies over weaker ones, and will readjust accordingly,” Cheng Siwei, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress told a conference in Beijing on Wednesday. A Chinese central bank vice director, Xu Jian, said the dollar was “losing its status as the world currency,” according to Bloomberg News.

Mr. Cheng later told reporters he was not saying China would buy more euros and dump dollars. But as markets opened across Europe, those words echoed as a invocation to sell the American currency.

The dollar fell to its lowest level against the Canadian dollar since 1950, the British pound since 1981, and the Swiss franc since 1995. The euro rose to a new record, $1.4729, before retreating.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/business/08econ.html?hp

Also, China is increasing its purchase of oil from Iran.

China’s crude imports from Iran on the rise
24-07-07 China bought 24 % more crude from Iran in the first six months of this year versus a year ago, Chinese customs data showed, a growth much faster than traders expected.
Traders had earlier estimated China's crude imports from Iran to be flat or even slightly lower this year from 2006. Iran, the world's fourth-largest crude exporter, maintained its position as No. 3 supplier to China, after Saudi Arabia and Angola.
China bought around 10.9 mm tons, or 440,000 bpd, of crude from Iran in the first half. The surprise increase was due to some spot purchases by state refiner Sinopec, one state oil trader told, an unusual practice as nearly all crude exports from OPEC producers are on long-term contracts instead of spot sales.
http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/news/ntm73443.htm

And Dick wants us to believe the reason we need to invade Iran is to stop the terrorists from killing us all. Iran also happens to have the second largest oil reserves in the world. But if Dick gets a hold of them and cuts out China, what happens if China starts disinvesting in U.S. currency? Why do I get the feeling that other countries are playing chess, and Dick doesn't even know how to play checkers? (Like Bush, he's failed at everything he's ever done.)

[riverdeep]

1. China's taking a page out of our playbook.

The old Soviet Union wasn't destroyed by the almighty Reagan no matter how much mythology is built up around that. It was destroyed by an unsupportable economy. China holds the cards of our future. We did this to ourselves. Because hey, who can resist a packet of tube socks for 0.99 cents?

[tularetom]

2. Our only role in the global economy is as a consumer

If our currency is weak we cannot fulfill our part.

We are becoming irrelevant.

[Pavulon]

3. They should put away the GHB beads...

they own lots of dollar. Not as much as japan but a bunch. If our economy tanks they are fucked. Who buys all their cheap shit, Wal-Mart? They do not have a diverse economy like Japan. Their currency is over valued as is.

Their economy runs on our cash..

Fuck that is funny, rave beads. If it were years ago I may have been in a car driving around trying out how to get fucked up on beads..

But I digress.

[riverdeep]

4. I agree they are dependent on us.

That is why they haven't taken overly drastic measures. They do have the upper hand in the long term, though. They have one of the fastest growing economies in the world. They will diversify. They will join with other allies. They will locate other markets. They will form a plan for winning the most from our losses. They are biding their time, setting us up. And then, they will turn and bite. Unlike us, they don't think in terms of quarters, they think in terms of quarter centuries.

[AdHocSolver]

5. When trying to figure out Bush/Cheney, don't think Henry Ford, think Ken Lay of Enron.

A brilliant man once said, "Don't listen to what they say, look at what they do."

Try as I may, I cannot get people to understand that Bush/Cheney are not about governing the United States, not about protecting it, not about keeping it strong. They are not incompetent and they are not stupid. You just refuse to acknowledge their goals.

Bush/Cheney are using the United States in the same way that Ken Lay and his pals used Enron: as a scam to bilk investors, suppliers, customers, and employees. Bush/Cheney's pals are Halliburton, big oil, KBR, Blackwater, the Saudis, insurance companies, drug companies, banks, the military/industrial complex, and a host of international thieves. They have already collectively bilked the U.S. out of a trillion dollars and in the process, brought this country to the brink of economic collapse. As far as they are concerned, the latter is merely collateral damage that is not their problem.

The only part of their plan left to implement is change the laws and gut the Justice Department to prevent any succeeding administration from successfully prosecuting them or their cronies. They have already gutted the U.S. military to prevent succeeding administrations from successfully interfering with the plans and scams of the multinational corporations in Africa and Asia. They have already succeeded in angering the rest of the world enough not to trust the U.S. to be the world's "policeman".

Bush/Cheney has already turned the Congress into a bunch of "rubber stampers" and enablers. Most of the Bush/Cheney business plan has been completed. They just have to wait it out until January 20, 2008, and they are home free.