China Shifts Currency

China makes major shift on currency | csmonitor.com:

"The Chinese move, which had been expected to happen in August, was hailed by the Bush administration as 'good news for the global economy.' Thursday, Treasury Secretary John Snow, who has made several trips to China to push for change, called the new currency program a 'very positive development.' 'We'll continue to closely follow the path of the yuan under this new and reformed regime that they're putting into place,' he said.

His remarks were echoed by Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, who termed the Chinese move a 'good start.' On Wednesday, Mr. Greenspan, in testimony before Congress, said it was in China's interest to allow its currency to move higher.

The Chinese move was greeted mostly as positive in Congress, too. Thursday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D) of New York, sponsor of legislation that would place a 27.5 percent tariff on all Chinese products, called it a good first step, 'albeit a baby step.' 'It is smaller than we had hoped, but, to paraphrase the Chinese philosophers, the trip of a thousand miles can well begin with the first baby step.'"

Helps us and them, read the whole article for possible effects which include possible upshift in long-term interest rates.

Joined at the Hip

Joined at the Hip - New York Times:

Tom Friedman: "You know that cheap mortgage you just got? Well, who do you think subsidized it? In many ways it was China. Americans don't save anymore, and import more than they export. Normally, a nation that did that as long and lavishly as the U.S. has would have to raise interest rates to get other countries to hold its currency. But America has not had to do that, in part because China has been willing to hold most of the dollars it has been accumulating - gained from all the goods it is selling America - despite the low interest paid on those dollars and the fact that they have been depreciating against other major currencies.

How come? Call it the Tiananmen-Texas Bargain. After Tiananmen, China's leaders struck an implicit bargain with their people, argued Steven Weber, director of Berkeley's Institute of International Studies. 'The bargain is that China's voters give up the right to vote, and the Chinese government guarantees China's middle class 9 percent annual economic growth. China's political stability today depends on that bargain.'"

Great editorial from Friedman about our deal with China and the consequences we may face.

China to send pig sperm to space

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | China to send pig sperm to space:

"China is planning to study the effects of outer space on sperm by sending the semen from pedigree pigs into orbit.

Some 40 grams of pig sperm will be taken on board the Shenzhou VI spacecraft for its October launch."

Um, hey China, how about spending some money to clean up your pig business in SE Asia, you know, where the flu mutates and spreads from year after year? Where are the priorities? Their pig farms need basic sanitation and inspections, yet they spend all this money to monitor pig sperm in space. What gives?

Thanks, China!

StarNewsOnline.com: The Voice of Southeastern North Carolina:

"China's current leaders eventually may kill more people than Mao Tse-Tung. And not just in China. Tens of millions worldwide could die because the Chinese ruined a drug that could have treated a deadly new form of influenza.

Chalk this suicidal stupidity up to the usual suspects: greed and secrecy.

Instead of saving the antiviral drug amantadine for humans, as international guidelines prescribe, the Chinese government told farmers to use it on chickens.

Chinese officials deny it, of course."

The World Health Organization needs to crack down hard on these Chinese farms...