How much will taxpayers shoulder?

[Zenda]

Afterthought: Hey, an economist who disagrees! At Stanford, no less. http://www.stanford.edu/~mckinnon/

I'm not so sure who he disagrees with, since his current research seems to focus on the appreciation of the dollar towards the Japanese yen. So I decided to ask him. We'll have to wait a bit for the answer, ofcourse.

"Thursday, December 18 2008, ...


Dear professor McKinnon,

Your work was brought to my attention during a forum discussion regarding (supposed) Chinese currency undervaluation policy. Since none of us is really qualified to judge in such matters, I was hoping you could enlighten us.

This is the URL to the part of the discussion where you were referenced:
http://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums/index.p...ndpost&p=158849

Our discussion started with someone quoting from another source "... constituted evidence that countries—including China—were manipulating their currency's value for competitive trade advantage. When such a finding is made, U.S. law requires the Treasury Secretary to undertake negotiations to end such manipulation. Current evidence indicates that China is engaged in just such a manipulation of the yuan for competitive gain."

At that point, I disagreed with the accusation towards China. Later, reports from the US Treasury Department and World Trade Organization were referenced (both from 2008), and while I thought those made the same conclusion as I did, my discussion partners claim otherwise. Because you are undoubtly more knowledgeable on these matters as we are, I was hoping you could share us your opinion.

I would be grateful for any reply.

Yours sincerely, ..."

..

economics isn't about fairness, it's about capability

That's a nice way of saying it. Wish I had come up with this :)

Anyway, regardless of how professor McKinnon will answer, this discussion on fairness reminds me of this bully we had in class when I was 12.

One day, he picked me as a victim, and I had to show up for a fight after school. He was a little shorter as me (I've always been a bit long and skinny), but heavier and stronger as most larger kids in school (Well, certainly stronger as me). So I had the choice of fleeing and become labeled a coward, or go and loose a fight. I chose the fight, and decided to try to do him some pain as well, hoping he'd think twice next time (I was young and didn't know that's not how things usually work). Over a dozen kids came watching. When we started, I immediately punched him in the stomach, without thinking. Being used to cowering victims, this obviously surprised him. He started screaming and whining. Then he said I "didn't fight fair" and ran off home.

He never troubled me again, nor other kids from what I can remember.