Reply #81: Mike Larson: Geithner Goes Begging in China; What It Means to You

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6/5/09 Geithner Goes Begging in China; What It Means to You by Mike Larson

So this is what it’s come to: Our Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, has to jet off to Beijing to beg for mercy from our biggest global creditor.

He has to sit by and be lectured in the ways of finance by Chinese officials.

He has to endure the laughter of Chinese students at Peking University, who openly scoffed at his reassurances that “Chinese financial assets are very safe.”

And he has to abandon plans to pressure China on its currency. The Obama administration had previously been arguing that the yuan was undervalued, artificially subsidizing Chinese manufacturers at the expense of U.S.-based firms.

The bottom line? The balance of world financial power is shifting and not in a good way for America. Worse, I see no evidence that we’re doing anything about it! Instead, we get a bunch of happy talk and spin, with little or no action.

Washington Happy Talk vs. Reality on the Ground in China

Before, during, and after Geithner’s China trip, the Washington spin machine was shifting into overdrive. I’ve already seen a few reports calling Geithner’s trip a success. Geithner himself has been making statements like the following:

“I’ve actually found a lot of confidence here in China, justifiable confidence, in the strength and resilience and dynamism of the American economy and I think a very sophisticated understanding … of the steps we’re taking and why they’re so important not just to the United States but to China and the rest of the world.”

Excuse me, but does anyone believe that for a second? I sure as heck don’t. And neither do the Chinese. The reality on the ground in China is much more skeptical and severe.

For example, Bloomberg recounted a conversation in which Geithner was lectured about U.S. profligacy:

Yu Yongding, a former central bank adviser who acted as the interviewer for The China Daily newspaper, told Geithner: “I worry about details. We will be watching you very carefully.”

A report from The Washington Post was even more blunt, warning that “Geithner’s remarks stand in sharp contrast to the commentary in China’s official propaganda papers.”

According to the Post …

* The China Daily said it will be “regrettable if underestimates and shuts his ears to voices from China’s civil society,” noting that there are worries that “Washington’s mushrooming deficit, generated by massive government borrowing to fuel its economic recovery plan … will undermine both the dollar and U.S. bonds.”

* The Global Times, which is affiliated with the Communist Party, said an online poll found that 87 percent of respondents believe China’s dollar-assets are unsafe. The paper concluded, “Ordinary Chinese people are discontent with the declining value of China’s huge foreign exchange reserves denominated in U.S. dollars.”

* And The Economic Information Daily, which is part of the official New China News Agency and affiliated with the State Council, in a headline demanded to know of Geithner: “How do you propose implementing fiscal discipline? How will you maintain the stability of the dollar after the crisis?”

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http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/geithner-goes-begging-in-china-what-it-means-to-you-2-34113