william the wie
Gold Member
- Nov 18, 2009
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I agree with you 100% on your analysis but not your prescription. Raising food prices during a labor shortage, when people can literally walk across the street to get a pay raise? The central committee has pulled the trigger on a gun in their waist band and blew off something important with this action. I say again it is time to pop some corn.I wanted to double check some facts before posting:
Argentina is planting soybeans for export to China and the price that the farmers get make the production of domestic chicken or cattle feed counterproductive in fact the Argentine cattle herd and chicken flock is shrinking fast.
Brazil likewise is planting soybeans as cattle/chicken feed and to a lesser degree direct exports to the Far East.
In addition to the 10 to 1 increase in shipping costs in switching from packaged/processed meat to feed imports the alternative of buying chicken from Brazil could trigger ecological tariffs by the EU.
This is a truly stupid time to pull this stunt given the weather disasters in Pakistan and Russia because US farmers have plenty of places to export as charitable organizations buy up the food China doesn't.
So let's see urban food riots and strikes over food prices China, little damage to the US and the answer is pop some corn.
Well Willie I think the Chinese picked this moment for a reason. To preempt any action by Congress to impose sanctions on China by firing a shot over their bow.
So we will see if Congress and Obama have balls.
Personally I think sanctions are a horrible idea, I prefer to collaborate with the EU and Japan and multilaterally engage in wholesale currency debasement.
The other idea I had months back was for the US to begin immediately to break the dollars role as a world reserve currency and as a commodity exchange currency. If we did it the world would be awash in dollars and we alone would benefit from that one time debasement.
That would really pull the wool out from under China's reserves strategy.
But I am FOR economic war with China until they break the peg. Multilaterally as much as possible, using means other than tariffs. If they don't like us dumping chicken, fine, dump dollars.
Fuck China.
But I doubt Obama or congress have balls on the eve of the election....