Obama Hears A Hu
January 22nd 2011 19:08
In the 1954 book, Horton Hears a Who, by Theodor Seuss Geisel, Dr. Seuss, Horton the Elephant hears a speck of dust, which turns out to be a tiny planet, talking to him. The planet is inhabited by Whos and is led by the Mayor, who asks Horton to protect the Whos from harm. Horton promises protection, and does so even when he is ridiculed.
In a reversal of the story, Hu Jintao, the President of China who visited with President Obama this past week, played the part of Horton, with President Obama, playing the part of the Mayor of Whoville, begging the Chinese President for protection against the power of the renminbi. Both the elephant and the Mayor were ridiculed this time.
The Chinese, in an effort to protect their own manufacturers and business and encourage exporting because their population doesn’t have the wealth to consume what their factories are capable of producing, have decided not to let the renminbi float against other currencies, including the dollar, as the U.S. dollar does. In fact, Chinese cannot hold dollars and the renminbi cannot leave China. Instead, when U.S. based companies purchase goods from China with dollars, the Chinese businesses must exchange the dollars at the Chinese central bank for renminbi at a rate artificially set by China. When these same businesses need dollars to buy goods and technology from the U.S., they must exchange renminbi at the Chinese central bank for dollars at a rate also artificially set by the Chinese. This is what rankles Americans.
Last night, I was watching The McLaughlin Group on PBS, and John McLaughlin was discussing the Hu Jintao visit with his regulars, Eleanor Clift, Pat Buchanan, Monica Crowley, and Mort Zuckerman: two Conservatives and two Liberals, with John McLaughlin, a closet Conservative, moderating. McLaughlin accused Hu and China of manipulating the renminbi to sabotage the U.S. economy, which is something I would have expected to hear from the liberals Clift and Zuckerman. Instead, Clift and Zuckerman remained largely silent, while Pat Buchanan lectured McLaughlin about the history of Chinese/U.S. relations, reminding him of the U.S. carving out an enclave in China, protecting it with gunboat diplomacy, and giving tacit approval to the British opium trade. He also told McLaughlin that China was not manipulating the renminbi; instead it had tied it to the value of the dollar. When the value of the dollar drops so does the value of the renminbi and vice versa when the value of the dollar rises. That’s the way China protects its interests. Lastly, he reminded McLaughlin that Hu was not the President of the U.S.; he is the President of China and it’s his job to protect and employ Chinese, not Americans. McLaughlin’s scowl only got more intense.
Crowley jumped in and agreed with Buchanan, and so we had two Conservatives, or rather the Conservative Crowley and the ultra right wing nut Buchanan defending actions of the Communist dictator Hu, while the Liberals Clift and Zuckerman tried to offer solutions for President Obama to force Hu to act favorably in the interests of the U.S., like trade embargoes and tariffs. I thought the earth had flipped, the poles had reversed, Australia was now in the northern hemisphere, and I had heard everything. So this is what civility is like. Time to die!
Back to Whoville: I personally thought the elephant Hu behaved remarkably well when he was begged by the speck of dust Mayor Obama for trade and jobs, attacked by the residents of Whoville (Congress), and even criticized by the Mayor for his human rights record. He even offered to buy $45 billion worth of U.S. goods, especially planes, so his country could reverse engineer them.
In a reversal of the story, Hu Jintao, the President of China who visited with President Obama this past week, played the part of Horton, with President Obama, playing the part of the Mayor of Whoville, begging the Chinese President for protection against the power of the renminbi. Both the elephant and the Mayor were ridiculed this time.
The Chinese, in an effort to protect their own manufacturers and business and encourage exporting because their population doesn’t have the wealth to consume what their factories are capable of producing, have decided not to let the renminbi float against other currencies, including the dollar, as the U.S. dollar does. In fact, Chinese cannot hold dollars and the renminbi cannot leave China. Instead, when U.S. based companies purchase goods from China with dollars, the Chinese businesses must exchange the dollars at the Chinese central bank for renminbi at a rate artificially set by China. When these same businesses need dollars to buy goods and technology from the U.S., they must exchange renminbi at the Chinese central bank for dollars at a rate also artificially set by the Chinese. This is what rankles Americans.
Last night, I was watching The McLaughlin Group on PBS, and John McLaughlin was discussing the Hu Jintao visit with his regulars, Eleanor Clift, Pat Buchanan, Monica Crowley, and Mort Zuckerman: two Conservatives and two Liberals, with John McLaughlin, a closet Conservative, moderating. McLaughlin accused Hu and China of manipulating the renminbi to sabotage the U.S. economy, which is something I would have expected to hear from the liberals Clift and Zuckerman. Instead, Clift and Zuckerman remained largely silent, while Pat Buchanan lectured McLaughlin about the history of Chinese/U.S. relations, reminding him of the U.S. carving out an enclave in China, protecting it with gunboat diplomacy, and giving tacit approval to the British opium trade. He also told McLaughlin that China was not manipulating the renminbi; instead it had tied it to the value of the dollar. When the value of the dollar drops so does the value of the renminbi and vice versa when the value of the dollar rises. That’s the way China protects its interests. Lastly, he reminded McLaughlin that Hu was not the President of the U.S.; he is the President of China and it’s his job to protect and employ Chinese, not Americans. McLaughlin’s scowl only got more intense.
Crowley jumped in and agreed with Buchanan, and so we had two Conservatives, or rather the Conservative Crowley and the ultra right wing nut Buchanan defending actions of the Communist dictator Hu, while the Liberals Clift and Zuckerman tried to offer solutions for President Obama to force Hu to act favorably in the interests of the U.S., like trade embargoes and tariffs. I thought the earth had flipped, the poles had reversed, Australia was now in the northern hemisphere, and I had heard everything. So this is what civility is like. Time to die!
Back to Whoville: I personally thought the elephant Hu behaved remarkably well when he was begged by the speck of dust Mayor Obama for trade and jobs, attacked by the residents of Whoville (Congress), and even criticized by the Mayor for his human rights record. He even offered to buy $45 billion worth of U.S. goods, especially planes, so his country could reverse engineer them.
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