China’s not enforcing its regulations among Chinese companies, let alone multinationals (which, the gov’t, no doubt, watches a little more closely than the domestic firms). The news reports of numerous problems within China leave no doubt of that.

…but it means diddly squat when the government interferes with the very lifeblood of an economy; its currency.

All central banks “interfere” from time to time with their their own currencies (and sometimes that of another country’s currency, usually at the request of that country’s central bank).

If you haven’t already noticed, the Chinese devalue their currency by pegging the Yuan to the US dollar.

You are, sadly, behind the times; the Yuan is tied to a basket of currencies, and has been for some time.

This is the much vaunted ‘fiscal policy’ claptrap at work.

Learn the difference between fiscal policy and monetary policy.

@ KLM: The Chinese economy is still a managed economy.

To a degree, yes. And a fair amount of their economy is still run by the gov’t. But with all the stories running rampant, on a near-weekly basis, of brick kiln slavery, of rivers running red from chemical pollution, of ships colliding near the mouth of the Pearl River due to the air pollution haze (to say nothing of the haze over Hong Kong that I see when I turn on CNN every morning), it doesn’t take much to realize that China suffers from unfettered capitalism.

Listen, laisez faire economics is about the complete removal of unwarranted government force from all sectors of life that affect the economy. China might not be enforcing some of its regulations with the multinationals. That’s all fine and dandy, but it means diddly squat when the government interferes with the very lifeblood of an economy; its currency. If you haven’t already noticed, the Chinese devalue their currency by pegging the Yuan to the US dollar.

This is the much vaunted ‘fiscal policy’ claptrap at work. Were currency traded as any other commodity in China, it would not be so undervalued, as the demand for the Yuan would raise its value. But for ‘Fiscal Policy’ of Beijing, there would not be such an artificially cheap Yuan, and no lopsided trade arrangements.

Would be good for the environment too. The better to pooh pooh those Statists who think only the Government can protect it, I guess.

* Is distortionary even a word?

McCain has been consistent about Iraq, in the sense of being consistently wrong. If the American people get a long look at what he’s said and a clear picture of our fortunes in Iraq, he may yearn for the days when he was being pilloried for offering “amnesty” to illegal immigrants.McCain portrays himself as uniquely clear-eyed about the war. In fact, those eyes have often been full of stars. When Army Gen. Eric Shinseki forecast that more troops would be needed for the occupation, McCain didn’t fret. Shortly before the invasion, he said, “I have no qualms about our strategic plans.” As the online magazine Salon reports, he predicted the war would be “another chapter in the glorious history of the United States of America.”

He brags now that he criticized Donald Rumsfeld’s handling of the occupation. But McCain didn’t declare “no confidence” in him until a year and a half after the invasion. And let’s not forget the day he took a stroll through a Baghdad market, guarded by attack helicopters and 100 soldiers in full combat mode, to prove how safe Iraq was. The following day, 21 Iraqis were abducted from the market and murdered.

McCain’s attempts to show off his expertise often turn into banana peels. Recently he attacked Barack Obama for saying that in the future, he might send forces back in “if al-Qaida is forming a base in Iraq.” Jeered the Arizona senator, “Al-Qaida already has a base in Iraq. It’s called al-Qaida in Iraq.”

But al-Qaida in Iraq has about as much to do with al-Qaida in Afghanistan as the San Diego Padres have to do with the Catholic Church. It’s a separate, independent and largely homegrown group that is focused on slaughtering Iraqi Shiites, not targeting American cities. And here’s a newsflash for McCain: It didn’t exist until our invasion created conditions favorable to violent insurgency.

So much for straight talk.

http://www.antiwar.com/blog/20.....ult-404-1/