The Mercantilists are kicking our ass

[loosecannon]

"What happens is the international trade policies in China are designed so that brass product stays in China, and goes to manufacturing companies that then ship a final product over here. So we're seeing the impact from China's imports not at our production level as much as our customers are facing that competition," O'Shaughnessy said. "We're seeing a loss of our customer base rather than direct competition to supply our customers. And if you think about it, it is an intelligent thing for China to do to benefit its work force, because it wants to produce value-added product there."

A decade ago, he said, U.S. copper mills supplied domestic makers of locksets for doors. That's gone completely overseas. Now the fear is that China's push into the automotive sector may hit the same way.

"We're not concerned about China sending in components and sub-assemblies into the United States. We're concerned that as they ship cars in, we will lose that transportation market," O'Shaughnessy said.

Republicans and Democrats, he said, both fail to recognize that global competition is no longer between companies. Rather, U.S. companies compete against countries that align their trade policies to capture markets.

"The United States faces the lack of a national and international trading strategy, or economic policy ... we as a nation don't have an entity that competes with other nations, and I think this harkens back to a reluctance to get into national economic policy or strategies because of the concern that it has the taint of some kind of government control and government assistance," he said.

The free-trade debate gets bogged down in political labels, which O'Shaughnessy thinks misses the broader point.

"So you have got 'socialists' fighting the 'capitalists,' and neither side realizes the mercantilists are kicking their ass. Both of them, it doesn't matter whether you are on this side or that side, if you are dealing with a mercantilist society, and that's what we're fighting in China," he said.

Mercantilism was practiced by the great European powers centuries ago, and involved protecting domestic industry while trying to dominate global trade to secure wealth and power. Critics of U.S. policy toward China, and before that policy toward Japan, argue that the U.S. should take steps to favor its own industries more.

more at link

How China policy squeezes companies anchored in U.S. - KansasCity.com

 

[loosecannon]

G20: Why the US should worry if Asian currencies strengthen

But if Asian currencies, notably the Chinese RMB, strengthen, as US officials are demanding, the only way Asian exporters will be able to stay competitive will be through “a real push to increase productivity” that Western firms will be unable to match, says Martin Schulz, an analyst at the Fujitsu Research Institute in Tokyo.

“The emerging economies in Asia will take more and more export markets,” predicts Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief economist at Credit Suisse Japan. “Weaker companies from industrialized nations will be kicked out.”

That bodes ill for President Obama’s goal of doubling US exports over the next five years, targeting the sort of Asian countries he is currently touring.

Fears are rising in some quarters of a “currency war,” a vortex of “beggar thy neighbor” competitive devaluations by governments using exports as an easy engine of economic growth – and wanting to keep them cheap.

G20 Finance ministers agreed last month to “refrain" from such competitive devaluations. But “currency coordination is not easy,” warns Yasunori Sone, a professor of politics at Tokyo’s Keio University. “The G20 can announce" that members will not fight a currency war, "but who will behave?” he wonders, especially at a time when “each country is seeking to defend its own interests.”

G20: Why the US should worry if Asian currencies strengthen - CSMonitor.com

We are gonna lose this war if we don't get our shit together.

 

[The Rabbi]

G20: Why the US should worry if Asian currencies strengthen

But if Asian currencies, notably the Chinese RMB, strengthen, as US officials are demanding, the only way Asian exporters will be able to stay competitive will be through “a real push to increase productivity” that Western firms will be unable to match, says Martin Schulz, an analyst at the Fujitsu Research Institute in Tokyo.

“The emerging economies in Asia will take more and more export markets,” predicts Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief economist at Credit Suisse Japan. “Weaker companies from industrialized nations will be kicked out.”

That bodes ill for President Obama’s goal of doubling US exports over the next five years, targeting the sort of Asian countries he is currently touring.

Fears are rising in some quarters of a “currency war,” a vortex of “beggar thy neighbor” competitive devaluations by governments using exports as an easy engine of economic growth – and wanting to keep them cheap.

G20 Finance ministers agreed last month to “refrain" from such competitive devaluations. But “currency coordination is not easy,” warns Yasunori Sone, a professor of politics at Tokyo’s Keio University. “The G20 can announce" that members will not fight a currency war, "but who will behave?” he wonders, especially at a time when “each country is seeking to defend its own interests.”

G20: Why the US should worry if Asian currencies strengthen - CSMonitor.com

We are gonna lose this war if we don't get our shit together.

1) It's not a war, it's business.
2) Blame Obama's policies for lousy currency ideas.
3) You have no idea what you're talking about

 

[william the wie]

Keynesianism is mercantilism and it has not worked.

 

[loosecannon]

Dollar hegemony is surely mercantilism. No doubt about it.

 

[william the wie]

Dollar hegemony is surely mercantilism. No doubt about it.

It is also stupid. End the empire!