You would never guess who hates the falling dollar. White supremists.

[mookydooky]

It seems that white supremists have been mouthing off a bit about the falling dollar. They're also blaming the head of the Fed, you know, that "Zionist Jew Greenspan." It seems that they're sounding off on the dollar as a recruiting technique. They're trying to appeal to those in the workforce who might be affected by the weakening dollar, basically, people whose manufacturing jobs might move offshore. BTW, none of this makes any economic sense, but it's what they're preaching. This is what one person had to say:

"Charlie Chan just doesn't get it," said another stormfront.org member from Michigan. Nearly a quarter of Michigan's residents are employed in the manufacturing sector. "What most people don't want to happen is to have their lifeblood literally yanked out from under them, mainly due to corporate greed."

Oddly, "Charlie Chan" doesn't get it, but somehow, he gets blamed anyway, along with, that evil villian, "Corporate Greed."

Reuters Article

[Daniel ~]

I've said it for years! We need more animal control officers!

[SteveI]

While complex, to the US blue collar worker, a falling dollar is the best bet to job security. It means that imports become more expensive, and exports become cheaper...

Americans will find American goods cheaper, and outsiders will find American goods cheaper as well. Ignoring all other influences, it increases demand for American goods in the world, and spurs domestic growth.

EDIT: I especially like the Charlie Chan comment.... The Chinese are artificially keeping they're currency LOW on purpose (see my comments above) , which is actually PROPPING UP the US currency. DUH!!!

[Kaitain]

It depends on your economic focus. Britain has no real native industry, so it behooves our economy to have a strong pound since the majority of our income is passively earned through stock/share/future/currency/etc trading. The US still has a strong industrial base locally and needs a balanced currency to maintain its export market. Third world countries with currencies measured in magic beans do well in the export market - why else would I be sent to them

[mookydooky]

I was talking to a friend of mine and he says that 5 year futures on the Yuan are trading around 7.3RMB to $1 (currently it's about 8.27RMB to $1). The major players are hedging their bets against China letting the Yuan float and the sellers are charging them a very high premium for it, the highest in recent memory. Most analysts figure the natural rate is around 5.5RMB. China's insane growth rate of over 9% annually (anything over 3% is considered very good) is fueled by exports, and they don't want to do anything to change that, but they are under a lot of pressure from not only the US, but a lot of other countries. Who knows how this will play out.

Anyway, falling dollar is actually not necessarily better for the blue collar worker. Basically, nobody wants to invest in manufacturing in the US anymore, therefore the number of jobs does not necessarily increase in proportion to the fall in the dollar. The blue collar worker gets screwed either way. If the dollar falls, he pays higher prices, if the dollar rises, he gets laid off.

[Daniel ~]

If he finds his spine and threatens revolution at the ballad box he gets his just due as would hundreds of millions of people around the world who are praying the American worker will do the right thing.

But the American worker would rather pretend he believes in what his country's doing than face a tough and dangerous road ahead.

[mookydooky]

At the close 2004, quotas on textiles ended according to an agreement from (I think) 1993. I was reading a little article that said that in the US, textile imports went up by almost 70% for the month of January. For certain items, like men's cotton pants, it was more than tenfold. Some of the increase was obviously from buyers and suppliers who waited until the new year to ship knowing the shipment wouldn't need a visa. Still though, it looks like China is ready to start dominating the global textile industry.

The places this will effect the most are places like Mexico, some other Latin American countries, and poorer Asian countries like Bangladesh. Some of those countries have labor costs that are around 4X-5X what labor in China costs. If labor cost is comparable, they don't use sufficient technology to be able to produce high quality goods at an acceptable speed.

I remember talking to one of the VPs at Turbo Sportswear a few years ago. He was lamenting how crappy everything from places like Bangladesh and Indonesia were. He would have loved to import everything from China, but the quota, which is sold on the open market, made the cost prohibitive.

Regardless, for most first world developed nations, this should come as a net benefit, especially for the working class. Who it affects the most are the middle to lower middle class who will probably pay a bit less for their clothing now.

[Daniel ~]

China's ability to provide nearly endless slave labor is indeed something to inspire nearly any freedom loving America corporation.

The American voter has got to be the most self-indulgent and unintelligent political entity of all time.

[alexkerhead]

Originally Posted by Daniel ~

China's ability to provide nearly endless slave labor is indeed something to inspire nearly any freedom loving America corporation.

Gotta love low cost computer equipment.

[cloasters]

Originally Posted by Daniel ~

China's ability to provide nearly endless slave labor is indeed something to inspire nearly any freedom loving America corporation.

The American voter has got to be the most self-indulgent and unintelligent political entity of all time.

Rarely has the proletariat been so willfully ignorant. This will hasten our demise as not only a power, but a country as well. I am SO glad that I'm not young!