- It's people are 'perverse' and unhealthy: [Tue, Mar 16, 2010]> 'Woman aspires to be the world's fattest female':http://www.asiaone.com/Health/News/Story/A1Story20100316-204955.html > Should current trends continue, 75% of adults in the United States are projected to be overweight and 41% obese by 2015.[5] > Yes, easy money through fame, but perhaps that's why The United States spends a greater portion of total yearly income in the nation on health care than any United Nations member stateexcept for East Timor (Timor-Leste),[5] ...The direct medical cost of obesity and indirect economic loss to obesity has been estimated to be as high as $51.64 billion and $99.2 billion in 1995, respectively;[6] this rose to $61 billion and $117 billion in 2000.[7] (*and these figures are 10yrs old)
- The U.S. ranks seventh in energy consumption per-capita after Canada and a number of small countries.[2][3]
- US$3706.1 Billion, the Estimated foreign holdings of U.S. Treasuries as at Jan2010 by foreign countries.
Perhaps the US should return to its Christian roots, stop meddling in other's affairs. Do its own social housekeeping before blaming other's for it's own unemployment problems- get the society up in ship-shape, get the people educated, innovative, research environmental causes, help each other and make US culture one where the world would want emulate. By all means, be protectionist for the time being to boost the US economy, and lastly, strive hard to buy back US treasuries whilst living frugally for the time being to compensate for your previous years of decadent spending. US senators should drop their crap excuses, cos without better living concepts, US can never beat Communist China's Billion population based on factory productivity alone.
05:55 AM Mar 18, 2010
WASHINGTON - Facing election-year pressure over unemployment, United States senators introduced legislation Tuesday that would impose tough new penalties on China if it failed to revalue its currency.
The International Monetary Fund and World Bank also yesterday added its support to calls for China to allow its "much undervalued" currency to rise, amid EU complaints of protectionism.
The US legislation, which enjoys support from both sides of the political aisle, would punish currency manipulation as an unfair subsidy and could trigger a set of retaliatory US action.
This follows Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's insistence at the weekend that Beijing would resist any foreign pressure for a stronger yuan.
Ahead of November mid-term elections, Washington lawmakers have stepped up criticism, accusing Beijing of securing an unfair edge in trade by keeping the yuan artificially low.
"When Premier Wen Jiabao said that China's currency is not overvalued, that was the last straw and here we are to tell them we are going to force you to do it - plain and simple," said Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer as he unveiled the legislation at a news conference.
"There is no bigger step that we can take to promote job creation here in the US than to confront Chinese currency manipulation," he said, referring to the double-digit unemployment crisis.
In Brussels yesterday, IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told the European parliament that with the world economy regaining its balance, it was logical that the "very much undervalued" yuan would appreciate. It has been effectively pegged to the dollar since mid-2008.
"It cannot be avoided. In some cases, exchange rates have to appreciate," Mr Strauss-Kahn said.
The World Bank also urged China to let its currency rise to contain inflation and stop the economy overheating, predicting that growth will gallop ahead at 9.5 per cent this year, in its latest quarterly update on the world's third-largest economy.
But Chinese commerce ministry spokesman Yao Jian insisted the yuan's low rate was not the reason for China's trade surplus, and that calls for China to be labelled a currency manipulator were unfounded. "The United States ... cannot ask others to (raise) their currency for the sake of its own export expansion - that would be an egotistical practice," he added.
On Monday, a group of 130 Democratic and Republican lawmakers had called on American Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to brand China a currency manipulator in a report due next month, saying Beijing was in effect subsidising exports.
Mr Geithner on Tuesday said the Chinese currency was "a very important issue" not only for the US and China, but for all trading partners of the Asian giant, adding that the ball was in Beijing's court. "I think they'll decide, ultimately, it's in their interests to move," he said in an interview with Fox Business Television. AFP
The International Monetary Fund and World Bank also yesterday added its support to calls for China to allow its "much undervalued" currency to rise, amid EU complaints of protectionism.
The US legislation, which enjoys support from both sides of the political aisle, would punish currency manipulation as an unfair subsidy and could trigger a set of retaliatory US action.
This follows Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's insistence at the weekend that Beijing would resist any foreign pressure for a stronger yuan.
Ahead of November mid-term elections, Washington lawmakers have stepped up criticism, accusing Beijing of securing an unfair edge in trade by keeping the yuan artificially low.
"When Premier Wen Jiabao said that China's currency is not overvalued, that was the last straw and here we are to tell them we are going to force you to do it - plain and simple," said Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer as he unveiled the legislation at a news conference.
"There is no bigger step that we can take to promote job creation here in the US than to confront Chinese currency manipulation," he said, referring to the double-digit unemployment crisis.
In Brussels yesterday, IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told the European parliament that with the world economy regaining its balance, it was logical that the "very much undervalued" yuan would appreciate. It has been effectively pegged to the dollar since mid-2008.
"It cannot be avoided. In some cases, exchange rates have to appreciate," Mr Strauss-Kahn said.
The World Bank also urged China to let its currency rise to contain inflation and stop the economy overheating, predicting that growth will gallop ahead at 9.5 per cent this year, in its latest quarterly update on the world's third-largest economy.
But Chinese commerce ministry spokesman Yao Jian insisted the yuan's low rate was not the reason for China's trade surplus, and that calls for China to be labelled a currency manipulator were unfounded. "The United States ... cannot ask others to (raise) their currency for the sake of its own export expansion - that would be an egotistical practice," he added.
On Monday, a group of 130 Democratic and Republican lawmakers had called on American Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to brand China a currency manipulator in a report due next month, saying Beijing was in effect subsidising exports.
Mr Geithner on Tuesday said the Chinese currency was "a very important issue" not only for the US and China, but for all trading partners of the Asian giant, adding that the ball was in Beijing's court. "I think they'll decide, ultimately, it's in their interests to move," he said in an interview with Fox Business Television. AFP
Copyright 2010 MediaCorp Pte Ltd | All Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment