From the Financial Times today,
China calls for new reserve currency
By Jamil Anderlini in BeijingPublished: March 23 2009 12:16 | Last updated: March 24 2009 00:06
China’s central bank on Monday proposed replacing the US dollar as the international reserve currency with a new global system controlled by the International Monetary Fund.
In an essay posted on the People’s Bank of China’s website, Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank’s governor, said the goal would be to create a reserve currency “that is disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run, thus removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies”.
In the hearing before the House, Michelle Bachman (R-Minnesota 6th), goaded Geithner and Bernanke to disavow this Chinese proposal after quizing the Fed Reserve Chair and Sec Treasury about where in the US Constitution does it allow for the authority to conduct these bailouts. They replied ‘under the laws of the land’ passed by this body (Congress).
Time to get our house in order. When the Chinese start balking on this level, it’s akin to calling in their chits — a shot off America’s economic bow.
Beholden to bankers is not independence, nor is it desirable inter-dependence. Especially when it has seen our nation invest in a culture of unbridled consumerism at the expense of hard fought for values like worker’s rights and environmental standards. We have to get our stories straight, are our values about people? Or just cash and the next quarterly business report?