German Economy Minister Accuses US of Currency Manipulation

At long last a major player is finally pointing a the currency manipulation finger where it needs to be placed, the US.

Please consider Germany Says Fed Is Headed �Wrong Way� With Monetary Easing

The Federal Reserve�s push toward easier monetary policy is the �wrong way� to stimulate growth and may amount to a manipulation of the dollar, German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said.

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke yesterday gave Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea an overview of the U.S. central bank�s efforts to jumpstart the world�s largest economy. His strategy, which investors expect will soon include greater asset purchases, drew criticism at the talks, said Bruederle.

�It�s the wrong way to try to prevent or solve problems by adding more liquidity,� Bruederle told reporters yesterday, saying that emerging-market officials were among the critics. Bruederle, a member of the Free Democratic Party, the junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel�s government, stepped in for hospitalized Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble at the meeting.

�Excessive, permanent money creation in my opinion is an indirect manipulation of an exchange rate,� Bruederle said. The minister has taken a pro-market stance in his first year in office, criticizing state intervention in cases such as providing aid for General Motors Co.�s German Opel unit.

The Big Point

I have been saying for years that the US was every bit the currency manipulator we accuse China of being. My stance is that interest rate policy decisions in and of themselves are manipulative.

Moreover, we have since gone one step further with futile unwarranted rounds of quantitative easing baked into the cake.

Thankfully, the German economic minister is willing to say what anyone with an ounce of common sense has known for a long time: �Excessive, permanent money creation in my opinion is an indirect manipulation of an exchange rate.�

Correction:
Rainer Bruederle is "Bundesminister f�r Wirtschaft und Technologie", "Federal Minister for Economy and Technology", not Finance Minister. He was filling in for hospitalized Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble at the meeting.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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