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Dec 2011

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Chinese Central Banker Declares That 'Gold Is The Only Safe Haven Left' China is making an even bigger move toward gold in reaction to money printing around the world (via @JamesGRickards).

Chinese Central Banker Declares That 'Gold Is The Only Safe Haven Left'

People's Bank of China official Zhang Jianhua declared yesterday: "No asset is safe now. The only choice to hedge risks is to hold hard currency - gold. " Zhang, the bank's research director, recommended buying the dips: "The Chinese government should not only be cautious of the imported risk caused by rising global inflation, but also further optimize its foreign-exchange portfolio and purchase gold assets when the gold price shows a favorable fluctuation.

" China tops U.S, Japan to become top patent filer. China eclipses US as top IPO venue. » China Keeps Slapping America In The Face And America Just Keeps Taking It Alex Jones. The American Dream Friday, December 16, 2011 If you were playing a game against a dishonest opponent and you allowed that opponent to lie, cheat and steal as much as they wanted to, who do you think would win?

» China Keeps Slapping America In The Face And America Just Keeps Taking It Alex Jones

Today, China is absolutely crushing the United States on the global economic stage, but they are hardly playing fair. They shower their own firms with huge government subsidies, they brazenly steal technology, they publicly violate intellectual property rights, they manipulate currency rates so that foreign firms cannot compete with Chinese prices and they slap ridiculously high tariffs on many classes of foreign goods. In short, they basically do everything that they can get away with to give themselves a trade advantage. This predatory behavior has caused an enormous transfer of wealth from the United States to China. This week, the Chinese government slapped even more tariffs on cars and sport utility vehicles made in the United States. China-U.S. trade wars: What's at stake - Oct. 13. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- China and the United States are the world's two largest economies and arguably each other's most important trading partners.

China-U.S. trade wars: What's at stake - Oct. 13

And now, it seems the two countries find themselves on the brink of a trade war. The U.S. Senate, in a rare show of bipartisan agreement, passed a bill Tuesday that would slap steep taxes known as tariffs on imports from nations with undervalued currencies. It is a provision aimed squarely at China's yuan, and it prompted harsh attacks from Chinese officials.

China warns of trade war over U.S. currency vote in dispute - Oct. 11. U.S.

China warns of trade war over U.S. currency vote in dispute - Oct. 11

Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell (left) meets China's Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai for talks in Beijing on October 11, 2011. BEIJING (CNN) -- A bill that will penalize China for allegedly manipulating its currency to gain a trade advantage is headed for a vote in the U.S. Senate Tuesday, adding pressure on China to appreciate the yuan. China opposes the bill and warns of a trade war if the bill is passed. "Should the proposed legislation be made into law, the result would be a trade war and that would be a lose-lose situation for both sides," said Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai.

"It would be detrimental to the development of economic ties and might have an adverse impact on bilateral relations. " Chinese officials infuriated over Senate's currency bill - Oct. 11. The U.S.

Chinese officials infuriated over Senate's currency bill - Oct. 11

Senate voted to slap duties on Chinese imports in response to China's undervalued currency. WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) -- In a rare showing of bipartisanship, the Senate passed a bill on Tuesday targeting China's undervalued currency -- and angering Chinese officials who have warned of a "trade war. " Currency manipulation? U.S. must look in mirror. Some U.S. politicians are complaining that China has kept its currency artificially low.

Currency manipulation? U.S. must look in mirror

But the yuan is actually up against the dollar and euro in 2011. Click chart for more on currencies. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- A newsflash to the legislators in Washington who suddenly want to act tough against China for currency manipulation: Have you looked in the mirror lately? How can anyone with a straight face declare that China needs to be punished for keeping the yuan artificially low when the United States is also aggressively trying to devalue the dollar with its monetary and fiscal policies?

U.S. says China’s not a currency manipulator. By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch.

U.S. says China’s not a currency manipulator

China and Japan plan direct currency exchange agreement. 26 December 2011Last updated at 03:22 China has been pushing for the yuan to become an alternate reserve currency along with the US dollar China and Japan have unveiled plans to promote direct exchange of their currencies in a bid to cut costs for companies and boost bilateral trade.

China and Japan plan direct currency exchange agreement

China and Japan Getting Away From Dollars. The run on the dollar that could sink its value and bring surprise hyperinflation to the U.S. has just become a lot more likely.

China and Japan Getting Away From Dollars

China and Japan are moving to trade each other’s currencies directly rather than use the U.S. dollar as an intermediary. This won’t lead to an immediate shift away from the dollar. After all, the greenback has constituted around 60% or so of central banks’ foreign currency holdings since at least 1995, according to the IMF’s COFER report. The change does signal to other nations that America’s main trading partners will favor the illiquidity risk of less-traded currencies over the valuation risk of holding dollars tied to unsustainable spending. China and Japan do have debt problems of their own, but they may be wagering that two drunks trying to stand each other up over the Sea of Japan is less tiresome than levitating a much larger drunk off of his back from across the Pacific Ocean.

Trade deficit hits $40.6B in Dec.; deficit with China is record. By Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer Updated 2/11/2011 1:54:06 PM | WASHINGTON — The trade deficit widened in December, closing out a year in which America's gap ballooned by the largest amount in a decade.

Trade deficit hits $40.6B in Dec.; deficit with China is record

By Joe Raedle, Getty Images By Joe Raedle, Getty Images. Foreign Trade - U.S. Trade with China. Are American Infrastructure Jobs Being Shipped to China? <br/><a href=" US News</a> | <a href=" Business News</a> Copy Rebuilding America's crumbling infrastructure is a growing priority, with President Obama highlighting construction jobs as part of his $447 billion jobs plan. The president visited the "functionally obsolete" Brent Spence Bridge in Ohio Thursday and called on lawmakers to do their part in fixing America's infrastructure.

"Mr. New World Trade Center Tower To Be Made With Glass From China And Steel From Germany. Did you know that the new World Trade Center tower is being constructed with glass from China and steel from Germany? 1 World Trade Center, also known as “The Freedom Tower”, is not just another skyscraper. It is essentially a national monument. But that doesn’t mean that we are above awarding construction contracts to the lowest bidder.

Rebuilt Ground Zero Billed as National Symbol, But Costly Construction Projects Outsourced Overseas. This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. JUAN GONZALEZ: This weekend, thousands of people are preparing to gather at the site of the former World Trade Center to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. On Sunday, a dedication ceremony will be held for the 9/11 Memorial, which will open to the public on Monday. Construction continues on 1 World Trade Center. Once completed, it will stand 1,776 feet tall. While the 10th anniversary is making international headlines, little attention has been paid to some of the controversial aspects of the rebuilding at Ground Zero. So far, just two tenants have agreed to move into 1 World Trade Center, the massive skyscraper formerly known as the Freedom Tower.

Glassmaking Thrives Offshore, but Is Declining in U.S. Martin Luther King memorial made in China. Ft900.pdf (application/pdf Object) How WTO membership made China the workshop of the world. Though the government promised last month to set up a top-level enforcement structure to protect intellectual property rights, "violations of WTO norms are still pervasive," according to a paper published earlier this year by the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

Subscribe Today to the Monitor Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS ofThe Christian Science MonitorWeekly Digital Edition At the same time, large areas of the Chinese economy are still effectively off limits to foreign investors, such as government procurement, much of the financial sector, telecommunications, and other services – in some cases because the government has resisted passing the laws that would bring it fully into line with its WTO commitments, and in others because it does not properly enforce such laws.

Native firms get many advantages "Many of these advantages are not quantifiable, and that makes them hard to challenge in the WTO," though they constitute illegal subsidies, says Mr. China Imposes New Tariffs on Some Vehicles From the U.S. Chinese Imports Hurt U.S. Solar Companies, Trade Commission Says. China Looking Into U.S. Policies in Renewable Energy Trade. The announcement comes two weeks after the said that it had accepted a request by SolarWorld Industries America and six other companies in the United States for an investigation into whether Chinese solar panel manufacturers had obtained export subsidies from the Chinese government, or had dumped solar panels in the United States for less than it cost to manufacture and distribute them.

The Chinese ministry said in a statement on its Web site that its investigation would end by May 25. That could allow the ministry to retaliate if the Commerce Department imposed punitive tariffs on shipments as part of either its antidumping investigation, for which a decision is due by mid-March, or as part of the antisubsidy investigation, for which a decision is due by mid-May.

ITC Vote: Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells and Modules from China; December 2, 2011. December 2, 2011 News Release 11-152 Inv. Nos. 701-TA-481 and 731-TA-1190 (P) Contact: Peg O'Laughlin, 202-205-1819. China’s W.T.O. Anniversary Shows a World of Difference. Keith Bedford/Bloomberg News. China Moves to Retaliate Against U.S. Tire Tariff. Revealed: true cost of the Christmas toys we buy from China's factories. With Christmas three weeks away, an undercover investigation has revealed the bleak realities of life in Chinese toy factories serving a market worth £2.8bn a year in the UK alone. Big brands such as Disney, Lego and Marks & Spencer pay only a fraction of the shop price of products to the factories that make their products [see footnote]. China's Real Estate Bubble May Have Just Popped. For years analysts have warned of a looming real estate bubble in China, but the predicted downturn, the bursting of that bubble, never occurred -- that is, until now.

In a telling scene two months ago, Shanghai property developers started slashing prices on their latest luxury condos by up to one-third. 5 money moves one China bubble-buster is making - Money Talks. By Laura Mandaro, MarketWatch SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Investing’s holy grail, spotting a bubble before it busts, may be two parts science, one part art and a large dose of luck. In the brew concocted by Vikram Mansharamani, a former private-equity investor and current Yale University lecturer who recently penned a book on the subject, a range of hard and soft indicators from ballooning credit to record art prices have been raising Chinese bubble flags for the past year. Bachrach. China manufacturing slowing, data show - Economic Report. By Chris Oliver, MarketWatch Reuters. China’s micro tuning to macro policy. Is the People’s Bank of China’s decision to cut the reserve ratio required of commercial banks a signal for investors to head off to the races?

A Walk Through the Chinese Money Supply. For all of its faults, the Federal Reserve is a very transparent bank, at least when it comes to sharing the very mundane data about the money supply and financial system. The Most Valuable Money Supply in the World. Insane Leverage at the People's Bank of China. The Chinese Humpty Dumpty. Will China Break? China's epic hangover begins. Illuminati Will Burst China's Bubble. Review & Outlook: China's Hard Landing. Three myths about China. Yuan hits all-time high. Shanghai stocks slide further in downbeat Asia - Asia Markets. Nation urged to increase holdings of gold. China warns EU of carbon tax ‘trade war’