China warns Federal Reserve over 'printing money'

Started by citizen k, May 25, 2009, 08:19:02 PM

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citizen k

Quote
China warns Federal Reserve over 'printing money'

China has warned a top member of the US Federal Reserve that it is  increasingly disturbed by the Fed's direct purchase of US Treasury bonds.

by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard 
Last Updated: 9:19PM BST 24 May 2009                             

  Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, said: "Senior officials of the Chinese government grilled me about whether or not we are going to monetize the actions of our legislature."

"I must have been asked about that a hundred times in China. I was asked at every single meeting about our purchases of Treasuries. That seemed to be the principal preoccupation of those that were invested with their surpluses mostly in the United States," he told the Wall Street Journal.

His recent trip to the Far East appears to have been a stark reminder that Asia's "Confucian" culture of right action does not look kindly on the insouciant policy of printing money by Anglo-Saxons.  Mr Fisher, the Fed's leading hawk, was a fierce opponent of the original decision to buy Treasury debt, fearing that it would lead to a blurring of the line between fiscal and monetary policy – and could all too easily degenerate into Argentine-style financing of uncontrolled spending. However, he agreed that the Fed was forced to take emergency action after the financial system "literally fell apart". Nor, he added was there much risk of inflation taking off yet. The Dallas Fed uses a "trim mean" method based on 180 prices that excludes extreme moves and is widely admired for accuracy.
"You've got some mild deflation here," he said.

The Oxford-educated Mr Fisher, an outspoken free-marketer and believer in the Schumpeterian process of "creative destruction", has been running a fervent campaign to alert Americans to the "very big hole" in unfunded pension and health-care liabilities built up by a careless political class over the years.
"We at the Dallas Fed believe the total is over $99 trillion," he said in February.
"This situation is of your own creation. When you berate your representatives or senators or presidents for the mess we are in, you are really berating yourself. You elect them," he said. His warning comes amid growing fears that America could lose its AAA sovereign rating.

garbon

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citizen k


garbon

You suck. We decided to save on money and film.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

citizen k

I can't fix the formatting until I post it first to see what got distorted.

Plus, I suck.  ;)


garbon

"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.


Syt

Quote from: citizen k on May 25, 2009, 08:33:53 PM
I can't fix the formatting until I post it first to see what got distorted.

Plus, I suck.  ;)

How about using that "preview" button, right next to "post"? :rolleyes:
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Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Valmy

Maybe the Federal Reserve should listen.

Though really at this point I think they are just replacing the money that recently poofed into thin air.
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

Alatriste

"Culture of Right action" my ass. The Chinese have bought a huge mountain of US dollars and are understandably worried about their Smaug's hoard losing value trough inflation. Of course they can't like quantitative easing.

There is nothing Confucian about this, or Arab Sheiks are fanatic Confucians.

This points a worrying possibility: China could decide to sell dollars the moment US inflation starts to climb, and results could be... nasty. Deflation, on the other hand, would make those dollars more valuable with each passing day.

Sheilbh

Quote from: Valmy on May 25, 2009, 11:46:08 PM
Maybe the Federal Reserve should listen.
The best commen I heard was the head of the China Investment Bank (or something similar) who said 'we hate you guys' because China's stuck at the minute with so many dollars which it can't stop buying significantly or the rest will lose value which wouldn't be good for them.  There's little choice but to keep going in the short term.
Let's bomb Russia!

citizen k

Quote from: Syt on May 25, 2009, 11:42:41 PM
How about using that "preview" button, right next to "post"? :rolleyes:
Been there, done that.  ;)



citizen k


Alatriste

Quote from: Sheilbh on May 26, 2009, 01:07:20 AM
Quote from: Valmy on May 25, 2009, 11:46:08 PM
Maybe the Federal Reserve should listen.
The best commen I heard was the head of the China Investment Bank (or something similar) who said 'we hate you guys' because China's stuck at the minute with so many dollars which it can't stop buying significantly or the rest will lose value which wouldn't be good for them.  There's little choice but to keep going in the short term.

Well, no one forced them to buy so many dollars, so they should hate themselves... they alone decided to buy them in order to keep the dollar high and fuel exports. And should they decide to keep betting on the dollar in the future, how is that America's fault? Saying 'we hate you guys' is quite unfair from them...