Adding to a flurry of allegations surrounding mounting tensions between the US and China, Vice President Mike Pence claimed on Friday that Russian interference in the 2016 vote “pales in comparison” with the Chinese meddling in the upcoming mid-term vote.
This follows claims by President Trump that China is interfering on behalf of the Democrats, and Pence’s elaboration, during which he argued that China wants Trump replaced, came with no evidence supporting these claims/
Indeed, Trump Administration Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said that while China has the “capability” to influence US elections, that there is “no indication” of any attempt to disrupt the US election infrastructure.
Trump argued Chinese meddling must be happening “because I am the first president to ever challenge China on trade.” Pence didn’t offer anything more concrete than that, but railed at China’s “malign efforts” to undermine Trump.
The trade war is heavily driving US-China tensions, and the Trump Administration has blamed China several times things haven’t gone their way in recent months, including slowing progress with North Korea. There was no evidence for any of it offered, but the assumption seems to be that China would do something in retaliation.
It is he “Yellow Peril” again!
When China, the world’s largest importer of oil, starts to buy Russian and Iranian oil with the Petro-yuan instead of buying US oil with the dollar… Oh, wait, that just happened!
Even a relatively small decrease of the flow of dollars from China back to the US treasury could have serious and negative effects on the world’s trade and banking networks or what is left of them after President Trump has had enough of his wrecking sprees.
Today the hoarding of dollars is akin to hoarding gold in the 1920’s.
A responsible President (ours) should have long ago (yes, that includes Obama) called for an international conference on currencies, banking, and trade. Russia, the EU, Iran, China, Syria, Venezuela, Israel, Japan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia included. If they act up against each other our president should treat them like bickering kids in a sandlot.
One of our earlier presidents, Truman, sponsored the Bretton Woods conference. Its agreement prevented the world from returning to the insane gold standard and served well for at least 30 years.
That is absolutely necessary because of the inevitable capitalist business cycles. Does Trump believe that these have ended? And does he believe that the “almighty dollar” will forever remain the “almighty dollar?” And what are his monetary and trade advisers telling him? And is he listening?
There was nothing wrong with the gold standard. On the other hand, fiat currency and deficit spending along with centralbanks/banking cartel has made perpetual war much easier.
Sorry but I must disagree. The fundamental flaw of the gold standard was that by 1929 not enough gold was mined to keep the growth of the world’s major currencies covered. The result was hoarding to protect currency. By us because GB and France had war debts to us. By France deliberately. One result was that we had significantly more gold than needed and there was no mechanism to plow it back into the world’s banking systems.
Germany was the first major nation forced off the gold standard because it’s reserves had dwindled to almost nothing. The president of the German Reichsbank, Hjalmar Schacht then proposed that the German Reichsmark be underwritten by land! Nothing came of that.
One of the most devastating wars, WW1 was waged when nearly all currencies were on the gold standard.
I do no know a single economist today who agrees with you.
So currency.should be backed by nothing other than promises made by politicians. The youth should enslaved by government debt. I disagree.
The entire Austrian School of economics agrees that the gold standard was a good thing. The gold standard was ended not because it didn’t work, but because it limited the government size and it’s power especially it’s power to engage in war. So, try searching under “Mises gold standard” as a starting point. Or Rothbard “What has the government done with our money” or Von Mises’ “Theory of Money and Credit”.
Note that whenever someone uses a statement like “I don’t know a single…..” which is basically: ” everyone knows… ” usually shows either intellectual dishonesty or laziness. Usually followed by a logical fallacy such as an appeal to authority. One only sees one side of a argument when that person doesn’t bother to look at the other side of that argument.
If the government was constrained to existing tax revenues and could not finance wars by creating money out of nothing but debt (fiat currency), then how long would the wars be waged?
As far as scarcity of any medium of exchange and hoarding? Simple, people would find something else as a medium of exchange. The last speculators in any bubble, including a gold backed currency bubble, would take a bath.
Hoarding itself is a useful economic signal.
Sorry about Von Mises. I was wrong there. I went too eagerly over board. Of course there are defenders of the GS.
When it worked well the GS greatly promoted world trade.
One of my sources is Liaquad Ahamad’s “Lords of Finance”. Is that reliable?
If the Austrian economists were so good why is it that the 1932 world-wide economical crash began with the failure of Austria’s largest bank? Should they not have predicted/prevented it?
It is certainly also true that public panic plays a big role in monetary/financial/Wall Street crashes but that does not negate Keynes’ view that the Gold Standard (and the German reparations) hindered a quick recovery.
I meant hoarding by the central banks, not by people. There is no doubt that Schacht had to take Germany out of the gold standard because Germany’s gold reserve was all but gone. That was the beginning of the end. When a central bank has no gold left, not enough other reserves to buy gold abroad, and unable to obtain huge loans from other central banks or from private bankers such as Morgan, that’s it. You are toast.
For most common people the gold standard was a goddess which protected their savings. She did not. That was bad.
With regards to wars? Prussia-France. Prussia-Austria. WW1, US-Cuba, Boxer war in China, Japan’s annexation of Korea, Boer war. All during the gold standard. Nations go to war when they believe that they can win them regardless of what their monetary system is.
My view is that a war, namely WW1, eventually killed the GS.
I seem to remember that the dollar was once pegged by gold at 30%. Given the current reserves at fort Knox and the amount of $$ which can be converted what value in gold would I get from my bank today if I went there and asked gold in return for 1 paper $? 30 cents?
Wow. I haven’t seen seen anyone conflate the country of Austria with the Austrian School of Economics for years. Do you conflate the Chicago School of Economics with the city of Chicago? Or the London School with London?
Suggest reading a bit on the subject. Try Mises.org: “gold sandard” and get back to me. Or the free publications I mentioned above. Add “Great Myths of the Great Depression”, “Five Myths of the Great Depression”.
Oh yeah. States engage in wars. But, as I stated above, they cannot do that over a long period of time unless there is a means of financing them.
As far as how much the government could back it’s currency by gold? Not close at 30% In fact, well under 2% The other 98% is inflation. Caused by the Federal Reserve/banking cartel and the government. That’s the point.
BTW, that monetary inflation (which is the classic economic defination of inflation) went into the pockets of powerful special interests. Government cronies. Notice that shortly after the country went off hard money, the vast majoriy of the US working population ceased to gain in prosperity? DESPITE increases in productivity. Those connected with the government and government cronies, especially the finance sector, exploded in wealth growth.
Pence is projecting again.
This nonsense, and the sanctions, are becoming like a broken record.
1. elections in the USA are unimportant as the PTB do what they want regardless of the population
2. Most people do not bother to vote-a far bigger proportion than in other “democracies” because they know their needs and wants are ignored
3. Israel is by far the biggest outside influence on US elections, and nobody dares tell them not to interfere
China stopped importing soybeans, which got the Pence empty suit all worked up. He’s probably a carnivore anyhow, so no big deal.