Re: China threatens to trigger US dollar collapse They have moved too quickly. They are bluffing, I think. China needs our money worse than we need their cheap products. They won't do anything controversial with the Oympics coming up. They are expanding their military like crazy, but they still can't take back Taiwan, much less take on the US. Our navy could absolutely blockade China and ruin their economy inside of a year. They will not provoke us to that point. A good thing, for such a war would drive inflation through the roof in this country and ruin most of us. The Chinese are sensitive to all of the tainted food and unsafe products that consumers are starting to be aware of. They know that America cannot afford to export so much of its manufacturing capacity that it can't support itself in an international war. They are sensitive about the wholesale theft of US intellectual propererty going on in China. They realize that we are going to start protecting our industry and trade and retaliate for Chinese breaking of trade agreements and safety standards. They are posturing and reminding us that they could dump those Treasury notes and make life difficult for us. But we can make life difficult for them as well, and they know it.
Re: China threatens to trigger US dollar collapse absolutely. Typical saber rattling from them. They also know they've got legit internal issues, and like to make pronouncements like this to deflect attention. Of course at some point we'll go to war with them and it'll be ugly. That's in the distant future though.
I can't see the benefit of China dumping our currency. The reason we buy so much of their goods is because it is cheaper for us to do so. If it becomes more expensive to buy Chinese goods we'll either start trading with someone like India or beef up domestic production. The end result is China selling les stuf to their biggest customer and ending up poorer. That isn't what they want to do.
Here you go with the republicans are bad thing again, spending too much money for humvees we don't need! I'm still trying to find out which one of you are right? You both can't be right. I don't expect much out of Red anymore after him ignoring my arguments and spinning things to his needs.
Re: China threatens to trigger US dollar collapse Let's see what Washington does about trade sanctions against the Chinese over the next 6-12 months. I don't think they are bluffing. The nice thing about selling treasuries for the Chinese, is they get out of an asset that is going down in value, and they can do it to any degree they chose, they don't have to "go nuclear" and sell them all at once. They are just notifying us that they now have financial power and we can't take measures against them without retaliation that can hurt us, completely outside the military realm. It's a better place to be than they were in 30 or 20 years ago, and trying to fight a war on a credit card has handed it to them.
Those are not mutually exclusive arguments. The military can spend its budget on the wrong type of asset to fight the war at hand (i.e. buying too many assets that are ineffective against terrorists) and at the same time not have enough budget to buy the things a military needs.
Re: China threatens to trigger US dollar collapse It's not much different than the cold war. Both sides threatened each other with nuclear weapons, knowing full well they would never use them. Of course, that terrified some people and they built bomb shelters and hid under school desks ... as if that would save them. This deal with China is much the same. It's economic rhetoric between the two countries. China isn't happy with us slamming them about their products. China retaliates with these threats. Some people buy into all the gloom and doom.
Not totally but you can't argue with the fact that they do talk about equipment such as humvee and tanks, at least I don't think you can? I'll just say that if the money isn't used wisely such as money not being spent on infrastructure such as bridges and levees. Well, thats my big, out of control government I've argued about. Another example how the system is broken and houtiger's fat cats is an example of lobbyists across the spectrum from teachers union to defense. and you will always have to pay more taxes if left up to the dems
Re: China threatens to trigger US dollar collapse It's vastly different than the cold war and nukes. Nobody was actually going to throw a nuke because of MAD. China can sell $50B, or $100B or $200B or any amount. Nobody dies. It is a business acceptable action. They have ultimate granularity, so they can use the threat.
Re: China threatens to trigger US dollar collapse How will that help China? We would retaliate in some fashion, like stopping imports from China. That would hurt us, but China will suffer greatly, too. It makes absolutely no sense for them to do so. China's best chance to be the next great superpower is to play nice with the U.S. so they can continue to have access to the richest market in the world. Now, all bets are off if/when they become a great superpower.
