Fantastic News Everyone!

[andrewducker]

You know what happens when you borrow $900Billion from China and then threaten trade sanctions?

Nothing Good

Cheers to theweaselking for that one. To be honest I was expecting the OPEC countries to go first - switching from dollars to euros, but maybe the possibility of a major dollar devaluation will give them the impetus to do so...

And maybe the pressure of oil prices rising even further will cause the US to actually move towads sustainable energy. Heck - this could be a really good thing in the long run!

Comments

[laserboy.livejournal.com]

Heh heh.

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

Do you remember the thing about Scottish banks I sent you just the other day? :-D

Also, as I've said before, the rest of the world has been deliberately over-valuing US stocks and bonds for years, but in the last year or so, things are starting to quietly get re-aligned.


Henry Paulson, the US Treasury secretary, said any such sanctions would undermine US authority and "could trigger a global cycle of protectionist legislation".

I almost wet myself laughing.

US authority has been undermined for quite a while. Particularly with the failed invasions and suchlike.

And "protectionist legislation"? Gosh. Imagine a country having protectionist legislation. It's lucky that in the good old US of A, there's no such thing at the moment. I mean, imagine if an Arab (as I recall) conglomerate wanted to buy some seaports in the USA. They'd hardly be prevented from doing so because, even though they're from an allied country, they might somehow let terrorists in because they're Arabs. Hypocrisy is a beautiful thing.

It's funny to see countries doing the whole "activist shareholder" thing.

Although really, given that the US has been quietly building up its anti-China propaganda and rhetoric the last five years or so, you'd think they'd have realised this situation would come up. The news stories about outraged US people describe China as evil because it spent money secretly on military projects were absolutely hilarious. OMG secret military spending! How scary! They are the only country to do so, of course!

Although I guess if you're a belligerent country who is a bit strapped for cash, especially in the military department these days, and there's this other country with a HUGE army who just keeps spending more... maybe you'd start to feel a little inadequate. Particularly if your entire military strategy is predicated on a having a technological advantage.

If I wasn't living in America's Ally In The War On TerrorTM I'd laugh a lot more.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Honestly, if this happens, it will be a good thing in the short to medium-run too, since it will drastically reduce the price of US vs. foreign labor, thus discouraging outsourcing and encouraging other nations to use US labor. OTOH, I don't expect it to happen, since the Congress will almost certainly cave into Chinese demands to avoid this happening. That worries me a lot more, since I have no desire to eat more food imported from China.

[chuma.livejournal.com]

"His name is Henry Paulson"

:D