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| Economy |
| China spending its hoard of $ on commodities |
| 2009-04-16 |
| "China has woken up. The West is a black hole with all this money being printed. The Chinese [States Reserves Bureau has been] buying raw materials because it is a much better way to use their $1.9 trillion of reserves. They get ten times the impact, and can cover their infrastructure for 50 years." The beauty of recycling China's surplus into metals instead of US bonds is that it kills so many birds with one stone: it stops the yuan rising, without provoking complaints of currency manipulation by Washington; metals are easily stored in warehouses, unlike oil; the holdings are likely to rise in value over time since the earth's crust is gradually depleting its accessible ores. Above all, such a policy safeguards China's industrial revolution, while the West may one day face a supply crisis. If I had a trillion or so $ laying around, I'd probably do the same thing. I sure wouldn't buy stocks or bonds. |
| Posted by:Anguper Hupomosing9418 |
| #7 Smart. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-04-16 11:40 |
| #6 Yes, let them eat copper. Without copper and steel and oil, all we have to grow food in is The Dust Bowl. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2009-04-16 09:13 |
| #5 Why hold a depreciating asset ($) whose underlying value is the paper it is printed on? Btw, China has overtaken the US as the world's largest car market, yet their import duty is 25% (reduced to 25% for WTO entry) even though they are the world's low cost producer. In the US, import duties are 2% and the 3 domestic manufacturers are going bankrupt with more than a million jobs lost to imports. Just one data point out of thousands. |
| Posted by: ed 2009-04-16 08:56 |
| #4 And when you have a big stockpile of critical commodities laid.... You are prepared to enter into conflict or go to war without immediate concern for sanctions or blockades. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-04-16 08:01 |
| #3 It's not a case of learning, GT. It's a case of national and social will. And when you have a big stockpile of critical commodities laid in before massive inflation hits the world (and especially the US) economy, plenty of people will line up to sell you food. |
| Posted by: lotp 2009-04-16 06:53 |
| #2 Yes, let them eat copper. |
| Posted by: rammer 2009-04-16 06:49 |
| #1 China can edge out anyone when it comes to a competition. We should watch and learn. |
| Posted by: GirlThursday 2009-04-16 04:33 |