The critical issues in America stem from minimally a blatantly ineffective public policy, but overridingly a failed and destructive Economic Policy. These policy errors are directly responsible for the opening salvos of the Currency War clouds now looming overhead.

Don’t be fooled for a minute. The issue of Yuan devaluation is a political distraction from the real issue – a failure of US policy leadership. In my opinion the US Fiscal and Monetary policies are misguided. They are wrong! I wrote a 66 page thesis paper entitled “Extend & Pretend” in the fall of 2009 detailing why the proposed Keynesian policy direction was flawed and why it would fail. I additionally authored a full series of articles from January through August in a broadly published series entitled “Extend & Pretend” detailing the predicted failures as they unfolded. Don’t let anyone tell you that what has happened was not fully predictable!

Now after the charade of Extend & Pretend has run out of momentum and more money printing is again required through Quantitative Easing (we predicted QE II was inevitable in March), the responsible US politicos have cleverly ignited the markets with QE II money printing euphoria in the run-up to the mid-term elections. Craftily they are taking political camouflage behind an “undervalued Yuan” as the culprit for US problems. Remember, patriotism is the last bastion of scoundrels

An unusual Wall Street Op-ed piece appeared Wednesday October 13^th , written by Yiping Huang, a Professor of Economics - China Center for Economic Research at the prestigious Peking University. He called for common sense from Americans and the G20 regarding the potential for destructive currency wars:

“The upcoming Group of 20 summit in Seoul could become a battlefield of this new conflict. But it doesn't have to be. Rather than focus on currency manipulation, all sides would be better served to zero in on structural reforms. The effects of that would be far more beneficial in the long run than unilateral U.S. currency action, and more sustainable. …  it would be much better for the G-20 to focus on a comprehensive package centered on structural reforms in all countries. Exchange rates should be an important part of that package. For instance, to reduce the U.S. current-account deficits, Americans have to save more. But simply devaluing the dollar would not be sufficient for that purpose. Likewise, China's current-account surpluses were caused by a broad set of domestic economic distortions, from state-allocated credit to artificially low interest rates. Correcting China's external imbalances requires eliminating all of these distortions.”

I have been arguing that the US must address its structural problems for a long time now. Read my articles: 1) INNOVATION: America has a Structural Problem, 2) INNOVATION: What Made America Great is now Killing Her! and 3)  America - Innovate or Die! for the facts that are being continually secreted from you.

We have a Public Policy failure that does not recognize we have a major US structural and secular problem.

The solutions should be central to US mid-term party campaign election platforms. They aren’t?

We all need to appreciate that from a Chinese perspective, with the world’s largest holdings of US$ reserves, a US lead currency war based on dollar debasement is an American act of default to its foreign creditors no matter how you camouflage it. As JP Morgan was reported to have said regarding sovereign defaults on US loans ‘ this is why we have the US navy – to stop that from happening’. So far the Chinese have been more diplomatic, but their patience is wearing thin.

With 25 currency interventions in a one week period, matters are quickly getting out of control. Stephen King, the managing director of economics at HSBC writes:

"the rich Western world has over-consumed in recent years. It has too many debts. But rather than dealing with those debts – living a life of austerity, accepting a period of relative stagnation – the West wants to shift the burden of adjustment on to its creditors, even when those creditors are relatively poor nations with low per capita incomes. And that rankles not just with the Chinese but also with many other countries in Asia and in other parts of the emerging world. During the Asian crisis in 1997-98, Western nations, under the auspices of the IMF, insisted that Asian nations, having borrowed too much, should now tighten their belts. But the US doesn't seem to think it should abide by the same rules. Far better to use the exchange rate to pass the burden on to someone else than to swallow the bitter pill of austerity. No wonder the Chinese are not willing to play ball."

The Chinese reject the conventional thinking.

1- They could point to the yen's extraordinary rise over the last 40 years – from JPY360 against the dollar at the beginning of the 1970s to approaching JPY80 today – and note that, despite this huge appreciation, Japan's current account surplus has got bigger, not smaller.
2- They could argue that America's prescription for China's economic rebalancing – a stronger currency and a boost to domestic demand – was precisely the policy followed by the Japanese in the late-1980s, leading to the biggest financial bubble in living memory and the 20-year hangover that followed.
3- They could argue that the demand for a renminbi revaluation is, in truth, a policy of American default.
4- During the Asian crisis in 1997-98, Western nations, under the auspices of the IMF, insisted that Asian nations, having borrowed too much, should now tighten their belts. But the US doesn't seem to think it should abide by the same rules"

5- They could argue that Chinese manufacturing margins are so razor thin that significant change in exchange rates would wipe them out and force layoffs of millions of Chinese. Labor rates are already climbing in china and further squeezing margins.

6- A revaluation of the Yuan would only push manufacturing to Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Bangladesh and other lower paying nations without improving the developing economies trade deficits.

If we truly wanted to head off this Currency War then it is a matter of doing what we did in 1985 with the Plaza Accord. We need another 2010 Plaza Accord version. But here is the rub. This Plaza Accord is not about the US and G5 as it was in 1985. It is about an Asian Plaza Accord under the support and auspices of the G-20. It is about the Asia export led and mercantilist leadership agreeing amongst themselves. The chances of this happening, the west seeing the requirement for it or the west relinquishing its powers in any measurable fashion are not possible as part of the political gamesmanship presently being played with our lives.

Why all this has been allowed to knowingly unfold leads me into a discussion where all ‘government fearing people’ fear to tread. Though I love the country I call home, I am coming to question our government. Frankly, I am losing my trust in its true motives.

I personally now support neither party since they have become the two heads of the same monster which does not operate ‘for the people by the people’.  I don’t believe I’m alone as I sense real anger across America; and the political polls clearly show confidence falling for our political leadership. Americans want their country back!

Almost three-quarters of Americans — 72 percent — have a negative view of the federal government, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll released Wednesday. It is the highest level of dissatisfaction since the Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974.

“The federal government has an image problem,” said Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of Gallup. “It’s like the cable company; they may perform a necessary function but people are dissatisfied with the service.” Newport said when you ask people what they think of the government, “‘Bleah’ comes out of their mouth.” Congress is so polarized that it is hard-pressed to accomplish even the things that the public says are important. When respondents in the Gallup survey were asked what the government should do, more than a third placed top priority on economic and budgetary concerns: 

·         Fifteen percent said the government should “create jobs.”

·         Six percent said “improve the economy.” 

·         Another 6 percent said “balance the budget.”

·         But 4 percent said the government should “expand health care coverage.”

·         And 4 percent said “cut taxes.”

All told, 35 percent mentioned those specific problems. Yet Congress failed to pass even one of 13 regular appropriations bills before recessing last month for the midterm campaign, while lawmakers have made little progress in addressing the deficit.

A PUBLIC POLICY SCORE CARD - WHAT HAVE OUR POLITICAL LEADERS ACHIEVED

Let’s recap where we are because the happy face media doesn’t want to tell you. They are reluctant to inform you because it hurts consumer consumption and therefore advertising revenues. It simply isn’t smart business to publically state the reality of the situation, and by the way, they get sued for any possibly unsubstantiated negative comments that might stop a stock(s) from rising.

Six corporations now collectively control US media and absolutely dominate news and entertainment.

 “When you control what Americans watch, hear and read you gain a great deal of control over what they think. They don’t call it ‘programming’ for nothing” (1).

 Americans now watch on average 153 hours of television a month. You would think with this level of information consumption we would be informed – somewhat?

I’m sure you are all familiar with the facts in the chart above?  No?  Is it because no one tells you? Still skeptical? How many of the following major facts are you familiar