protectionism

Because of US and European pressure Beijing may allow much faster appreciation of the renminbi than it likes over the next year, but this will almost certainly be accompanied with policies that reduce the adverse employment impact. In my…

by David Galland, Managing Director, Casey Research It's important to recognize what's actually going on with the price of gold, which has broken into new record territory again today – to $1,331 as I write. It is not that there has been a…

In a synchronized global economic downturn, the temptation for policy makers is to view economic growth as a zero-sum game and to take policies that, while favourable to domestic constituents, end up 'stealing' growth from elsewhere. The…

Japan's Finance Minister Noda has indicated that he will take advantage of the upcoming G7 and IMF meeting to explain its Sept 15 intervention. While US Fed and Treasury and the ECB did not comment on the intervention, several others did,…

No big surprise from Brazil’s decision to boost the IOF tax on fixed income foreign investment to 4% from 2% previously. This is a pretty strong statement from the authorities that 1.70 is the line in the sand, and if USD/BRL continues to…

Yesterday, Ed sent me an article by James Fallows on some 2006 comments by Republican gubernatorial candidate Christine O'Donnell regarding the threat to the United States posed by China. She said China had a "carefully thought out…

It seems pretty clear that we are now entering a new stage of quantitative easing, competitive currency devaluation, and protectionism. Expect to see a number of posts on this later today. But I want to highlight this here in the links post…

by Michael Hudson, President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and author of…

The last post by Win Thin demonstrates that Emerging market countries that are doing the best in this difficult economic environment are feeling serious currency pressure. Brazil is looking for a way to deal with the volatility associated…

The US House Ways and Means Committee approved the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act before the weekend. The full House of Representatives will vote on the measure, and likely approve it on Wed. It then goes to the Senate. The Senate…