So do we want the Chinese to manipulate their currency or not?

  • Share
  • Read Later

The NYT home page currently features this headline:

Geithner Says China Is Manipulating Its Currency

and this subhead:

Timothy F. Geithner’s comment is certain to anger the Chinese government and raise fears that it could sell off some of its huge reserves of dollars.

If China has been manipulating its currency, it has been doing so by buying dollars. So if we want them to stop manipulating it, we want them to sell dollars. I guess the issue is that we don’t want them to sell in anger, or something like that. But still, we can’t have it both ways.