“China VS U.S. – Round 1!”
Did you go anywhere over the 4th?
We drove down to Myrtle Beach & the Hilton last Friday. Attempted to spend some quality time by the pool Saturday but the needs of the family kept calling. Our little child had to go to the bathroom in a hurry. We made it to the bathroom but not in time enough to unravel the knot in the bathing string. So, I find myself holding a hand full of kid poop inside a bathing suit & heading back up to the hotel room to get cleaned up.
But I think the good Lord wanted to remind me that vacations are for the “family” & not just daddies wanting to peruse their reading material by the pool in quiet. Just ain’t going to happen.
Heading home later back to Greenville we witnessed all the incoming traffic heading down to Myrtle Beach for the July 4th weekend. The traffic was literally backed up all the way to Florence for over a hundred miles. I thought where are folks getting all this money to go on holiday & then I remembered all those wonderful home equity loans providing cheap money.
Well, are you following events in China?
Read a great piece in Time magazine while in Myrtle Beach -between the kid poop. What I liked best about this article was how effectively it illustrated the American naiveté as regards to how we as a nation view other countries. Very interesting. Listen to the following.
“U.S. – China relations are stronger than they have ever been. So, why is Bejing engaged in a military buildup?” By Michael Elliot, Here Comes China!, Time Special Report, 6-27-2005
Let’s stop here and think about what we just read. The audacity for a writer to ask why any nation is building its defenses is just beyond my comprehension. I suppose only America has the right to arm itself & to protect its interests? But the article gets even deeper than this as we read another great line below.
“Will the U.S. come to think of China as a friend or a foe?” By Michael Elliot, Here Comes China!, Time Special Report, 6-27-2005
First of all nations are neither friends nor foes. They are competitors. That concept seems to be something we as a people have simply forgotten. And the verbiage gets only deeper.
“The U.S. & China are intimately linked – for better or worse. Can we make room for each other?” By Michael Elliot, Here Comes China!, Time Special Report, 6-27-2005
When I read that last line it reminded me of ancient Carthage & Rome & how these two great empires were so careful & kind to “make room for one another” so long ago. The article goes on to quote Richard Haas, the president of the Council of Foreign Relations. He states how it is the goal of the United States to “manage” China's growing rise so that the U.S. may gently guide China “peacefully” within the U.S. Hegemony.
Right!
And I am sure China’s greatest concern is to be careful to not disturb the U.S. Empire or to threaten the balance of power including U.S. interests. But as China already knows very well the balance of power has already been upset & has already shifted east. The U.S. & her people already are quickly becoming in effect a colonial & Asian possession.
And will China take a hard stand against the United States for seeking to interfere with China’s desire to buy a U.S. oil company?
“China tells Congress to back off…” ChinaDaily.com, 7-5-2005
I believe what we are going to begin to witness is China’s efforts to assert its new economic strength & to use those bargaining chips it holds in the form of U.S. debt.
“The Chinese government on Monday sharply criticized the United States for threatening to erect barriers aimed at preventing the attempted takeover of the American oil company Unocal Corp. by one of China's three largest energy firms, CNOOC Ltd.” ChinaDaily.com, 7-5-2005
This bid by China is merely the opening salvo of a calculated strategy to begin to back the U.S. into an economic corner so that China may begin more thoroughly to acquire important world assets.
"We (China) demand that the U.S. Congress correct its mistaken ways…” ChinaDaily.com, 7-5-2005
China is not a fool & they know they hold the high cards for bargaining. They hold the mortgage on the United States Debt & the U.S. Congress knows this.
“But whatever comes of the Unocal battle, tensions over Chinese investment are probably only beginning.” ChinaDaily.com, 7-5-2005
And if the United States stands in the way of China’s procuring important oil assets I am firmly convinced China is prepared to threaten to quit purchasing U.S. Treasury instruments. And how many politicians next election will that cost as the economy then drops off a cliff? China has the U.S. over a barrel & they know it.
“But the simplest reason for tension may be the amount of cash at China's disposal: As investment pours in and China's central bank buys dollars to maintain the value of its currency, the country has amassed $650 billion in foreign exchange reserves. China has plowed much of that money into U.S. Treasury bonds.” ChinaDaily.com, 7-5-2005
And now what we are witnessing is China’s calculated long planned strategy to start cashing in that $650 billion in U.S. foreign exchange reserves. And if the U.S. attempts to block this oil deal they are telling the Chinese simply that those $650 billion U.S. Dollars China holds are worthless & are not exchangeable for tangible assets.
And what are the professionals continuing to say about gold?
“Opportunity knocks” “Still, many analysts emphasized that the latest decline in gold prices provides a good opportunity for investors to buy in. THEY BELIEVE THE GOLD MARKET'S HEADED HIGHER IN THE LONGER TERM.” "Investors should be buying aggressively at these levels," said Ned Schmidt, editor of the Value View Gold Report.” "Gold and silver are now deeply oversold, and poised for an explosive rally," he added.” “Peter Grandich, editor of the Grandich Letter said the market may just surprise investors with "how fast it retraces the losses near term." “John Reade, an analyst at UBS in London, also believes longer-term investors should use any further weakness in gold to build positions as the metal "remains set to benefit from the medium-term weakening of the U.S. dollar that we expect," he wrote in a note to clients.” Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch, 7-4-2005
But still as we have observed gold continues to be ignored by the masses.
And the masses have found a new investment craze that is hotter than a fire cracker. And that investment craze is of course real estate. I mentioned earlier we were in Myrtle Beach last week – a popular sea side tourist area – while there I observed the real estate craze in full swing. In Myrtle Beach there is a long waiting list to buy new condominiums. Before they are even built waiting lists to bid on these condos are completely filled up. And that is a mania waiting to crash.
Let’s close with our discussion of China & their new plans to begin ridding themselves of all those accumulated U.S. dollars.
"We invest too much in U.S. federal bonds, and they don't make us much money," said Pan Rui, a professor at the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai. "Now we're learning to invest more wisely, to try to invest in American companies and industries." ChinaDaily.com, 7-5-2005
Did you catch that last text coming out of China? Let’s here it again for emphasis.
"WE INVEST TOO MUCH IN U.S. FEDERAL BONDS…” (and now China wishes to) “…invest in American companies and industries." ChinaDaily.com, 7-5-2005
I believe China is telling us bluntly that their strategy is now changing & that it is their desire to begin cashing in all those U.S. dollar chips they have been accumulating.
They are signaling their intent to:
1 Begin unloading U.S. Treasuries.
2 They have begun a buying spree for global assets & world resources.
And if the U.S. government forbids China the freedom from making these purchases China will still unload their U.S. Treasuries & at a minimum will almost certainly cease the daily buying of U.S. debt.
“Let us recognize that we are moving into a new phase of history.” James Howard Kunstler, The Long Emergency, 2005
Yes, we are in for some interesting times ahead & very soon.
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David N. Vaughn
Gold Letter, Inc.
David4054@charter.net
Gold Letter Website
July 8, 2005
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