Thought for Thanksgiving

David Seaton's New Links
I find it curious that the fate of the US dollar now appears to be in the hands of China, which is ruled by the direct heirs of Mao Tse-Tung.

John Lennon sang mockingly in "Revolution",

"But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow".

However, if you look carefully you'll find that Mao's picture is on all the Chinese money right at this very moment, so I guess that makes about a billion people "carrying pictures of Chairman Mao".

The idea always was that the opposing internal forces in capitalism, called the "contradictions" would bring it down eventually. The problem is that millenarians, being only human after all, always expect (demand) the millennium in their own lifetime. You could say that all revolutions to date have been impatient "cesareans", producing preemies.

Perhaps the revolution will come finally with a whimper instead of a bang. The big question for Americans in this millenarian, end of capitalism scenario is whether we will be "raptured" or will we be "left behind"? DS

China voices alarm at dollar weakness - Financial Times
Abstract: China on Monday expressed concern at the decline in the dollar, joining a growing chorus of global policymakers alarmed by the weakness in the world’s main reserve currency. Wen Jiabao, the premier, told a business audience in Singapore it was becoming difficult to manage China’s $1,430bn foreign exchange reserves, saying their value was under unprecedented pressure. “We have never been experiencing such big pressure,” Mr Wen said, according to Reuters. “We are worried about how to preserve the value of our reserves.” China keeps the currency composition of its reserves a state secret, but some analysts believe that more than two-thirds are probably still held in dollars. The dollar has dropped 16 per cent this year against a basket of major currencies.(...) Russell Jones, head of currency strategy at RBC, said: “Any respite in the dollar’s weakness is likely to be temporary. The dollar isn’t a safe haven at the moment, because most of the problems facing the world economy are coming out of the US.” Ashraf Laidi, currency strategist at CMC Markets, said “the power in influencing the fate of the dollar lies increasingly with the oil producers as they struggle with a falling dollar.” Mr Wen’s remarks are likely to fuel market speculation that Beijing might move to reduce the proportion of its reserves held in the US currency. READ IT ALL