Stop me before I buy Chinese

The populist Senate Banking Committee moved to punish the Chinese for manipulating their capital without real evidence that they’re doing it. The Wall Street Journal’s John McCary writes;

Efforts to sanction China over trade policies seen hurting the U.S. gained steam on Capitol Hill as a second congressional panel approved legislation aimed at pressuring Beijing to revalue its currency.

The Senate Banking Committee, in a 17-4 vote, moved to tighten the government’s definition of currency manipulation and close an exemption that has allowed the Bush administration to avoid taking that step against China because of an apparent lack of intent. The action follows Senate Finance Committee approval of a bill to address the same problem, but with a different solution: allowing companies claiming to be hurt by currency manipulation to seek antidumping penalties on imports from the offending nation.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. This will only trigger a legislative war worldwide. And it’s only to buy votes. Americans seem concerned about China’s economic growth (12 1/2% last quarter) yet we still buy all the cheap little plastic crap they dump in our stores.

It’s just like those stupid Japanese cars that have flooded our highways. Everyone is worried about our “trade deficit” yet the same boneheads who complain about it are buying some over-priced version of a shitbox Toyota or Honda. Yeah, I know, the saleman told you that it was made in the United States with American craftsmanship. But if that’s true, why is it every time I lay on the beach in Miami I see these ships with TOYOTA on the side pulling up with another load of shitboxes? Don’t you feel like a tool?

And of course we can all count on Chuck Schumer to act like a two-year-old;

One senator said it was incorrect to raise the threat of retaliation by China as a reason to oppose the legislation.

“If we manipulated our currency, then China should go after us. But we don’t,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

Detroit wants Congress to put tariffs on imported cars, Congress wants to manipulate China’s currency, the FDA wants to advise China on food safety. We don’t need government to do these things – we have control over our spending, our wallets, our lives don’t we? Then why do ya’all buy that crap?

See, the problem isn’t that the government won’t regulate trade, the problem is that Americans have allowed salesmen to tell them what they should buy. I remember my grandfather and my father wouldn’t buy anything that said “Made in Japan” on it (fifteen years after Pearl Harbor). Neither will I. It’s that simple.

Congress is only doing this for votes. People who don’t want to think about what they buy, people who don’t understand how protectionism triggered the Depression and our involvement in World War II are just happy to see Congress do something – anything that might help tomorrow, but will desvastate us next month. Does Congress care? Nope. The Democrats and Republicans both can blame the president for our economic woes in the next election.

Category: Economy, Foreign Policy, Politics