Diversifying Reserves
That is one way of saying that China has started looking for alternatives to the dollar.
The dollar fell the most since September against the currencies of its six biggest trading partners after Chinese officials signaled plans to diversify the nation’s $1.43 trillion of foreign exchange reserves.
[…] “We will favor stronger currencies over weaker ones, and will readjust accordingly,” Cheng Siwei, vice chairman of China’s National People’s Congress, told a conference in Beijing. The dollar is “losing its status as the world currency,” Xu Jian, a central bank vice director, said at the same meeting. […] Chinese investors have reduced their holdings of U.S. Treasuries by 5 percent to $400 billion in the five months to August. China Investment Corp., which manages the nation’s $200 billion sovereign wealth fund, said last month it may get more of the nation’s reserves to invest to improve returns.
However:
“The world’s currency structure has changed,” Xu said at the conference in Beijing. Cheng, speaking to reporters after his speech, said his comments don’t mean China will buy more euros. The National People’s Congress, China’s legislature, isn’t involved in setting currency policy.
“Cheng has a history of speaking out on a range of financial market and economic developments, and his comments are not always accurate,” said Glenn Maguire, chief Asia economist at Societe Generale SA in Hong Kong.
Cheng’s remarks on Jan. 30 that China’s stock rally was a “bubble” caused the benchmark index to fall the most in almost two years the following day. The Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 Index, then over 2,500 points, has since climbed above 5,300.
I feel like I ought to be worried about this, but I also feel as though I don’t know enough about the situation to comment authoritatively. Let’s split the difference – I put the story up and better informed readers can hash out what it means in the comments.
Interesting Tech Tidbit For The Day
I just found out that you can embed polls from the weblog awards on a homepage. Cool.
Supporting us won’t get you a damn tote bag, but you will get regular beer blogging again. And we both know that you can’t get that on NPR.
BTW, during sweeps week this is what counts as an open thread.
***Update***
To the top! BTW, if you haven’t voted lately consider tossing some votes to the Jawa Report instead because (1) I feel responsible for getting them bumped from the conservative category, and (2) nobody seems to know what happened to one of their comments here.
***Update 2***
Seriously, I promise that I won’t bump it again.
A (Re)Introduction and the Best Debate is a Sports Debate
I am back, after a year with intermittent internet access, training stints across the country, and a reintroduction to academia. For those that do not remember me from my previous posts, I’ll go over the tale of the tape:
I am approaching 30 years old and am currently working as a server/bartender, and manager at Fleming’s Steakhouse. For those that aren’t familiar with us, think Morton’s or Ruth’s Chris. I am currently back in school after my stint at UT, working on a degree in Hotel and Restaurant management from the University of Houston. I have been involved in high end dining for eight years now, having started as a busser and line cook to learn both fine dining service styles and culinary techniques. I have also been in the service industry for 10 years, having worked as a server and bartender at numerous other restaurants while going to school in Austin. Though I am not by any means a culinary expert, I have developed a love for food and cooking. I hope to focus more on easy to prepare dishes that can be made for a family or enjoyed by a single bachelor and saved for later (that’s no knock on John — I’m one myself. That’s how I know what food they like).
Politically I am, I guess, hard to pin down. I am libertarian on most social issues, but lean left. I think that the free market is incredibly good at finding an efficient (as in cheap) solution to problems. I also think some issues are too important to leave to the free market. In other words, that it’s more important the issue be handled well than that it be handled efficiently. I include education, health care, national defense, and law enforcement among those. I’ve voted for exactly one Democrat in my life (that being John Kerry), and one Republican (Bob Dole). I grew up in various Houston suburbs, ranging from Pasadena (the foulest city on earth) to Sugar Land, Texas(a place I’m sure everyone here knows because of our most famous son), all the while in a strongly Republican household. At this moment I will say there is no possible way I am voting Republican this year. Oddly, the candidate I agree with the most is probably Ron Paul, though I am not in any way supporting him. I think he provides an incredibly important role in reminding the Republican party what it should stand for, but will never in a thousand years get the nomination. Even if he does, I’ll hold my nose and vote for Hillary because I am the polar opposite of Libertarian on the issue of health care. I think it is the biggest issue facing our nation and that it is the type of issue that can win someone the Presidency. I also breathlessly await the return of a competent cabinet to the executive branch.
That being said, I don’t think I’ll be focusing too much on politics (though I have to reserve the right to say that could change as the election approaches). I’ll be focusing on a food and wine blog highlighting some recipes and wines I’ve stumbled across. I also, as an American male, love sports. Baseball is my favorite, due largely to its historical power. Football is ingrained in a Texan’s DNA, and I am a University of Texas Longhorn. I was an Oiler fan before I could watch sports, as my Dad took me to games when I was in the womb, but when they moved that team to Nashville, I happened to leave for school that same year in Austin and abandoned the NFL for a few years. My relocation to Houston has me watching the Texans, at least, and really hoping they find their way. It’s hard being a fan of such a disaster, though. That being said, I offer a debate of what (American) sports mean in a global world for all the sports-as-life fans out there.
Matthew Yglesias wrote a piece on freedarko.com* comparing imperialist baseball to nationalist football.
the country is, at the moments, under the grips of a dubious false choice between baseball and football, between imperialism and isolationism. The term rankles many in the American context, but there can be little doubt that it fits.
Yglesias proceeds to argue that baseball was spread at the barrel of a gun to any states that currently play the sport (ignoring that Japan adopted the sport in defiance towards the US military forces stationed there), and further states that Bush is acting in baseball’s model:
in January of 2001, George W. Bush found himself inaugurated as President of the United States. Most observers assumed at the time that his foreign policy judgment would track the sort of prudent statesmanship associated with his father, with Bush family retainer James Baker, and with incoming Secretary of State Colin Powell. A more insightful observer would have noted that Bush was the first former owner of a baseball franchise to occupy the White House and known accordingly that his election, in fact, heralded a return to the imperialism of the McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt administrations.
The Democrats are football fans in this tortured metaphor:
Meanwhile, the powers that be would like us to believe that there is only one alternative. As hawkish senator Joe Lieberman told my colleague Jeffrey Goldberg when he was reporting for The New Yorker, “A lot of Democrats are essentially pacifists and somewhat isolationist,” with his particular beef in this instance being a Ted Kennedy proposal to deny Bush funding for the troop “surge” that took place earlier this year.
They want us to think, in short, that the only alternative to baseball’s dreams of conquest is the splendid isolation of football — America alone, padded and helmeted, marching to the beat of our own drummer while the rest of the world tries to figure out what a “yard” is.
Thus Yglasias completely ignores the fact that the first ever overseas NFL game was played last week in London, as well as the huge influx of NFL players from Samoa and other Pacific Islands the US took via the same policies Yglasias derided as imperialist.
I did enjoy his basketball comparison of “soft imperialism,” noting how the sport has exploded internationally without the US controlling the territories involved. I think this comparison is best made with multinational corporations however, particularly since the NBA is more accepting than the other big team sports in accepting garish product marketing schemes.
*For those that do not regularly read sports blogs, freedarko is one of the best. Bethlehem Shoals makes me enjoy basketball, a sport which I tend to believe has fallen below soccer as the third most popular in the country.
A (Re)Introduction and the Best Debate is a Sports DebatePost + Comments (26)
George Ryan: Jailbird
“I’m ready to go,” said former Gov. George Ryan, who planned to caravan with his family to the federal prison in Oxford, Wis., today.
“Look, I’m fine. It’s the beginning of a journey I hadn’t expected, but it isn’t over,” Ryan told Sneed in an exclusive interview Monday night.
My New Hero (On This Issue)
Charles Grassley and his probe of mega-churches. For the record, I am an atheist, and I want churches to be taxed like everyone else.
Asking the Experts
Currently sitting in on the “Ask The Experts- Tips, Techniques, and Creative Strategies for Teaching Online” panel at the 13th Annual Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning. Looks to be a very promising workshop- all the award winning educators from previous years will be sharing tips and advice.
Had a nice salad poolside after a morning of browsing the vendors. I decided during the vendor visit that I have some form of ADD- if someone can not tell me why I need their product/services in about 15-20 seconds, the sad fact of the matter is I probably don’t need their product. After that first 20 seconds, the next 20 seconds involve me exploring new and creative ways to end the conversation. Maybe it isn’t ADD and is just common sense.
And, I presume, at some level, I am always offended by people who need to hand me crap- pens, balls, thumbdrives, drink cards, etc., rather than just tell me what they do and why it is valuable. What a waste of resources.
*** Update ***
The first presentation is “Silk from a Sow’s Ear,” discussing the value of old asynchronous discussion threads as learning tools.
Turned out to be rather valuable- there are a few little changes thatg the presenter suggested that will ease the use of these boards and simplyh make sense.
*** Update #2 ***
Second panel: “The Orchestration of Faculty Excellence in Online Teaching.” Not sure about this one. “Excellence” is one of those words that, when used in an academic setting, know I am in for a load of bullshit. “Journey” is another one of those words.
*** Update #3 ***
The second panel was a total waste of time. Very nice woman, not sure exactly what she was doing presenting in this workshop. I actually walked out for coffee and a bathroom break, and as such, have no clue what the third presentation is, as it had already started prior to my return.
*** Update #4 ***
4th and final panel- “Building on what we know: using theory and research in learning to design online education.” This one has potential.