The people accusing the Chinese of acting unfairly are the very people China is bailing out, i.e. Congress. They charge China with "stealing" jobs. It is true that some jobs that were once done in the west are now done in China but that does not mean that there will be fewer jobs here. China's currency manipulation means that we can have cheap borrowing and low prices. The economic equivalent of having your cake and eating it is behind the most powerful jobs-creation machine in the world.
The process of growth is one of old jobs disappearing and new ones emerging which is what is happening here. China will, in time, revalue the yuan against the dollar. This will not happen because Congress talks tough but because it will be in their own interests. China's trade surplus is not as huge as you may have been led to believe. Most of the money made from exporting to the US is spent on importing the raw materials to make those exports. The soaring cost of commodities such as oil, gold and copper means that they will have to pass some of that cost on to their customers by making their currency more expensive. It is better we let them do this in their own time so that we are not hit by rising prices and a rising cost of borrowing all at once.
None of this should be read as a support for currency manipulation of any kind. I am merely pointing out hypocrisy by those wishing to divert attention from their own failings.
Article comments
1 - mark richard adam
and you will never understand that.
2 - azminivanracer
interesting bit here.
while its interesting, you provide no hard facts as to what the government is doing to ACTUALLY manupulate the value of the currency. there is more to it than lying and saying its worth more. there are intracate pieces in play. the government (with the acception of the bush administration) thinks things through. "the government doesnt take a dump without a plan"
so while your piece was intriguing and interesting to read, im still not convinced (by you)
3 - stoneweapon
At some point we have to blame China for not reciprocating trade or blame ourselves for consuming more than we produce. If Chinese corporate and government sectors think they can get away without penalty; oppressing their own people for cheap labor and hoarding trillions of dollars worth in foreign currencies from their largest customers for the use of strategic natural resources instead of buying the goods and services that we can provide to benefit their people, then they are wrong. If the US cannot work off its debt, eventually the debt is printed to balance the trade. The devaluation of the USD is punishment to China for hoarding and not reciprocation trade, and it is punishment to the US for consuming more it produces.