Sandwiched Between China and US

Dear editor,

``Seeking an economic recovery through exports, the U.S. is currently stepping up its push to make China appreciate the yuan, with tension expected to rise further," South Korean Prime Minister Chung Un-chan said.

I don't necessarily have an opinion on what Korea should do.

Generally I believe that countries should have a balance of imports and exports. Balance is what ``free markets" are suppose to achieve.

If one believes in this basic capitalist ``free market" theory, and we see that balance is not being achieved, then the market is obviously being manipulated or it is not a free market.

Milton Friedman god-fathered Ronald Reagan's voodoo economics in the 1980s and Bill Clinton bowed down before a wonderful golden twin ideology of ``free trade" and ``growth" and libertarian rhetoric. It's very bubbly stuff.

This implemented historical deregulation and non-regulation has contributed to financial collapses in the real world. And oh yes, some people have gotten rich. Privatizing profit and socializing loss is an underlying game.

The funny thing is, libertarians point to the same disasters and say, our worship just wasn't pure enough.

Global corporations use this ideology of free trade and growth (through the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, etc.) to promote their own agendas.

``Communist" China does too. They don't play by the theoretical rules, but like the smokescreen.

I agree that the U.S. should label China as a ``manipulator," (and tax their goods) but of course it is a lot more complicated than just doing that. We should work with China and the rest of the world for a balance of trade.

I don't think the fear of offending China is as real to American politicians as the fear of offending global corporations.

I also believe in localizing economic activity. I believe that labor and the environment should be important aspects of trade agreements, growth and free trade should no longer be worshiped (but have a role to play), and ecological economics is the new god!

Rogan Thompquist Paso Robles, Calif. roganthompquist@hotmail.com