It is hard to say which is more disconcerting, the big story at the top of page three of today's 'Business' section or the little one that got stashed down at the bottom. The top story about Timothy Geithner and Ben Bernanke's insistence that the federal government be given even more "unprecedented powers" was disturbing enough, but tucked way in the lower right (as if the editors were hoping no one would notice it), was this little gem.
China floats currency plan
BEIJING — China is calling for a global currency to replace the dominant dollar, showing a growing assertiveness on revamping the world economy ahead of next week's London summit on the financial crisis.The surprise proposal by Beijing's central bank governor reflects unease about its vast holdings of U.S. government bonds and adds to Chinese pressure to overhaul a global financial system dominated by the dollar and Western governments.
In an essay released Monday by the bank, Zhou Xiaochuan recommended creating a currency made up a basket of global currencies and controlled by the International Monetary Fund and said it would help "to achieve the objective of safeguarding global economic and financial stability."
—From news services
Do you suppose Chairman Mao's face will be on that one, too?
10 comments:
PMT, I haven't looked at today's newspaper yet. I have to force myself to go for a walk first.
I'm not surprised by the China suggestion. I think they will probably THE power within 50 years. I don't think it will affect me too much..haha, but you are 20+ years younger. You might want to start working on another language.
Changing subjects, it is fun to check on the profiles of people over there. Boyd is a newbie, so I went to his personal blog. It looks like he and his partner (I don't think they can marry in Minnesota. That's another subject that I'll be commenting on!) are adopting a baby. I think I'll drop him a line.
This is a bit scary and could very possibly come to pass...Even though we really don't have a lot of choice, we have seriously alligned ourselves with China...we have put them in a position of incredible power over us. We made them rich because of our need for "stuff" and the government made it easy and profitable for companies to move overseas for cheaper goods and higher profits, now, because of all this lovely de-regulation and the financial mess this country and others is in...China now has the money to carry our loan needs...boy are we screwed if they decide to start calling things in...I could make this a REALLY big soap box this evening with a glass of wine in my hand...PMT, thanks for the article. My husband is the newspaper reader and I have been following a lot of this online...will catch this up again later
Good afternoon all,
There's a rain shower passing by, so I have a few minutes to rant. If the Iphone does to me what it did last night (wiped out 15 minutes of 1 finger typing) you will hear two screams. The second will be the result of the insertion of a thin but wide communication device in Some Apple execs ass.
I tend to agree with WM on the implications of your early post. Seems like we are the resident liberals here, although keep in mind that I'm also a libertarian anarcho-primitivist Luddite. Damn Apple.
The f$&"?!g masters of the universe who gotten us to the point that our financial house of cards is about to collapse are only slightly more culpable than the retards who bought into "compassionate conservatism" and "Jesus Christ is my favorite philosopher". We can argue ad infinitem over whether Bush was a useful idiot or crazy like a fox, but I see no room for debate over Cheney being evil personified. The MOTU made out like bandits during the Clinton years, yet they were not satisfied, and maybe hated him because he got free what Spitzer had to buy.
I've raised sheep for 20 years, and while I have heard Americans referred to as sheep, I can tell you that the average two week old lamb can do a better job of discerning friend and predator than the average voter. You're against abortion? Don't get one! Worried about the sanctity of marriage? Take care of your own first. As I told my ex-wife a few years ago when she was planning to vote for aKentucky constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage," S----n, it isn't gay people fucking up marriage, it's people like you and me."
It won't be long before Americans don't give a rat's ass whose picture is on the currency, because if they have any, it will be worthless, anyway. The MOTU have salted away their precious metal stash, but the average 401K has lost half its value, the house is no longer valid as an ATM, and since we've abandoned or given away our manufacturing base, every g----m dollar you spend at Wal-Mart goes directly to China. Why shouldn't they control the currency, and the world? As long as the MOTU get their cut, and America gets its" family values", it's all good, right?
It's stopped raining and the Iphone battery is down to 10%.
Much more later.
PMT: I want to talk to you about Wendell Berry, after I charge the phone and $&@/ the Irish.
Windhover
WH,
Thank you for that. I feel much better about myself now. ;)
Me too, but I expect to get scorched at wine time; probably rightfully so. As always, I'll take it like a man. (don't go there, you'll be in trouble again).
If I may be serious for a moment (and I may be), I'm sure what I like to think of (and the way they may be identified at our trial) as our left coast coconspirators are aware that I have a great deal of respect for them and that anything I might say (e.g. 'wine time' ) is meant as gentle teasing. I think we can do that on this 'corner' without arousing the reproach sensed elsewhere.
And if they, you, or anyone else is offended, now or at any time, I am capable of apologizing, and will.
W
Windhover, I think you have just written what the rest of us have been thinking. Thanks for giving your finger to the cause.
Bush, useful idiot? Absolutely. It seems that all he needed to be told was, "It's what God wants." or "It's what Jesus would do." He turned his presidency over to Cheney and "the boys" without a whimper and they have been busy ever since, raping every country that has anything of value, including ours.
I was only semi-joking earlier about what will be by 2060. I'm not sorry that I will not be here to see what happens. I've got to stop taking such good care of myself...and...PLEASE, don't let there be reincarnation!! Of course, I could be wrong and the world will be a better place, but I tend to doubt it.
I'm hoping Buckeye can find his way back here. I know that he has some very vivid opinions of his own. Perhaps Lemonade714 will also stop by.
Windhover, I do like a guy who is capable of apologizing. My husband does it regularly and sincerely! LOL, perhaps we should just issue a blanket apology in advance of anything that might be offensive to anybody...anywhere...anytime? It's all in good fun, folks.
I'm jealous. I will be waiting for 5:00 PM for that glass of wine. I hope you farther east people let WM and me catch up.
OK...5 pm straight up and I am allowing myself just the one glass of wine on general principle because I deserve it...sort of. I'm still not quite where I need to be with the enlarged mural drawing but decided to take a quick break.
WH...actually I laughed almost all the way through your post because it was so right on. I have been trying to pay attention to all this financial stuff just so I can start to understand it. Apparenttly a few of my better ideas have been put into practice...who knew the Obama Admin. was psychic! I still think there is a lot that we still don't know yet although I have hopes that there will be a certain amount of transparnecy that was previously missing...undisclosed locations and all that.
My understanding so far is that this really started to initially unravel during the Regan years with all the deregulation but the REALLY big deal was a bill that was authored by 3 Republicans and pushed through by Alan Greenspan in 1992...Clinton had vetoed the original version of the bill and the 2nd time time through they managed to convince him that this was the best thing for financial markets. It essentially removed the last of the checks and balances and the "walls" that were put in place during FDR's terms to separate the various different types of lending institutions, banks from investment banks from insurance companies and underwriters. What the the passage of the bill allowed was things like Citicorp, an investment bank, could now purchase Traveler's and become CitiGroup, with fingers in more pots...the same thing happened to AIG which allowed them to set up the derivative's markets which bundled, purchased and sold the sub-prime mortgages which have become the "toxic assest's"...although they have now renamed them and AIG is now AIU(like we would forget)...anyway, allowing companies like AIG to become involved in almost every aspect of the money/insurance markets all over the world, literally put them in a position that failure was not an option.
If that bill had never passed...we wouldn't be where we are because the greed would have been better monitored. The DUB admin was also doing a fine job of financially and morally gutting just about every government watchdog group and government agency that was put in place to protect the American public while systematically breaking every Constitutional law they could get away with...
The FDA is no longer trustworthy and underfunded,along with almost every major agency. The Evil one also managed to steal and move as much of the taxpayers money as possible to his hired guns in Iraq and Afghanistan through no-bid contracts to his cronies...Basically the Bush administration told the tax payer to bend over and just take it. I don't know if there will be enough time in 4 years to even begin to correct and fix all the things that have been done to this country and it really fries me when DUB says..." I really love my country"...GRRRRR.
I worry for the future that awaits our children and hope that there might be enough people out there who do "get it" and they can help keep the country on a better and healthier path...Rome fell...so can we, for a lot of the very same same reasons.
I'm all for opening up all those offshore accounts and collecting the back taxes...might make a dent in the tab we are running up.
WH/PMT...despite my lack of understanding at the post the other night, I always enjoy the comments and especially the rants...I promise I will try to be more cool...
Got to go back and draw...
OOPS...Date correction...not 1992...1999 ..The Graham/Leach/Blyley Bill( I may not have all the spelling correct)It negated the Glass/Speigel Bill from the 1930's that set out to separate everything just so crap like this wouldn't happen...almost on DUB's watch, but not quite.
Ok...NOW I feel better.
WM,
Your observations are very astute, particularly your mention of 'derivatives'. I do not recall where I read it, but back in the 90's (Isn't it so cool to say that?) I read an article all about how the whole S&L fiasco had not gone away, that it had just been swept under the rug and that we were all going to have to pay the piper one day soon. The article, the name of which I can not remember, was quite prescient. It was all about how the problem was much larger than people realized and that it was, in fact, world-wide. The article focused on BCCI, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International. The sinister bastards running that were pulling off $#@! that makes old Bernie look like a rank amateur. That article focused on the fact that there was this HUGE financial bubble that was going to burst and that it was primarily due to the fact that too much of the economy was based upon 'derivatives'. There were simply too many people making money off of money and too few people actually producing real $#@!
As for the renaming of AIG, my brief search yielded no confirmation. I searched the Sun-Sentinel and found nothing. Apparently, they are more concerned with updating us on the latest in the Anna Nicole Smith case ... as if anybody not made of plastic actually gives a $#@! about that fat c#@!. Uh ... what was I talking about again? Oh yeah, they say that AIG is too big to fail. They say the same $#@! about GMC. While it's true that they are huge and that the ripple effects would be tremendous, I say f#@! it, let ém fail. Then, when the people are all going hungry and the $#@! finally hits the fan, maybe we will start seeing a few heads on pikes. Maybe then we will start to truly know the meaning of accountability.
I'll post one more quick one for you...AIG/AIU...Rachel Maddow yesterday on MSNBC.com...I just LOVE Rachel!!! and Keith Olberman...but I am already 2 days behind watching Keith on the computer...when I get home tomorrow, I may pour an early glass of wine and get caught up.
And yes...the S/L was just the tip of the iceberg...ENRON followed and each time they learned a bit more. Remember the Bush family was also involved in the S/L mess and Cheney and Rumsfeld(different issue) cut their teeth in a pervious administration...learned from THEIR mistakes too.
Also..I love the SECRET post and will MOST definitely be reading the link...one of my absolutely most favorite conspiracy theories. What they knew and didn't tell anyone...OOOHHH sooo interesting.
Mural meeting in AM...still have to do a bit more work this evening! TTFN...
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