As I predicted nearly a year ago, Mitt Romney is heating up his offensive on the China trade issue.
His campaign blog has just released a page promising that he "will ensure China plays by the rules," and blaming the Obama administration for not doing so, starting with currency manipulation.
There's a short video clip of Romney saying the same in a speech:
The Romney campaign also sent out an e-mail blast on the subject, signed by Romney's Taiwanese-American policy director Lanhee Chen:
[Recipient],
Year after year, President Obama has had the chance to label China a currency manipulator. But he hasn't.
When China cheats by holding down the value of their currency compared with ours, it makes their products artificially cheap. It's a rigged set-up that drives American manufacturers and American producers out of business, and kills jobs.
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will hold China accountable, and ensure they play by the rules. American goods, and the hardworking people who produce them, deserve a fair shake in the global marketplace.
Help us win in November so we can put an end to China's cheating.
It's time for China to play fair. With your help, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, and the Republican team will make sure it does.
Thank you,
Lanhee Chen, Ph.D.
Policy Director
Romney for President, Inc.
So... Do these guys mean it? I can't tell for sure, but they're responding appropriately to the many people I think have asked to them to beef up their somewhat soft public position on America's China trade problem.
If they're planning to use Obama's inaction on this issue as a serious vote getter (which it should be), they've not got a lot of time left. Maybe Romney is planning to ambush Obama at the debates with it?
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This massive money creation tactic is the Fed's last-ditch plan to desperately try to save the economy. "I think the country should have panicked over what the Fed is saying that we have lost control," said Ron Paul, "and the only thing we have left is massively creating new money out of thin air, which has not worked before, and is not going to work this time."
The latest round of quantitative easing, printing money, can be considered AMERICAN currency manipulation.
Keeping the dollar's value "high" made imports of oil cheaper, and stimulated business with China (much to the benefit of Romneyeque off-shoring of production).
So long as the USA imports so much and exports relatively little one could argue that over-vauling the dollar is beneficial; and, implicitly Chinese undervaluing theirs, beneficial since American consumers could get all the cheap and not-so-cheap stuff they want more cheaply...
We won't do ROMNEY WANT TO REALLY GO THERE?
Just correcting curriency manupulation still will not solve the problem of unfair trade practices with China. They will circumvent any obsticle to maintain a favorable trade balance in their favor because that is the key element of their strategy on trade. One example how they would do that is to ship their to Mexico and then Mexico NAFTA agreement which has no provisions to balance trade, will assemble the components and ship to the USA as they are already doing on labels that state assembled in Mexico. The only measures that will ever have any impact on keeping free trade fair is to balance trade and you will never hear a peep on this subject from either candidate because both do not want this subject brought up because it ties their hands to a specific solution rather than a vauge promise._
There are no markets on Jupiter, Mars or the Moon! All this hot air and bluster about what he will do, what he will ensure, what he will not do and what he will ensure, do not provide a single detail that demonstrates a clear and comprehensive grasp of the issues, that demonstrate good workable solutions that are the answer to domestic challenges and that then tie into, support and provide good workable solutions to America's international challenges, responsibilities and commitments. Does Mr Ronmey ever pause to give himself time to think and ask himself why it is that Obama and his Administration, America's allies, and indeed other economic and trade heavyweights are irritated by his 'shoot first and aim later' approach to everything, a 'leadership' style that is not only making him a laughingstock but that is also earning him contempt, in many place all over the world?
- this is very complicated
- Obama has no solution - or it would have been implemented
- therefore there is no solution.
Get out of your ideological slanted world. Stopping currency manipulation is a great start to bringing jobs back to the US. It's not the complete answer, but it's a huge step in the right direction and you know it.