Sunday, March 06, 2005

Last call for economic alcohol

From Prudent Bear. You know the US is in a precarious position when an announcement by the South Korean central bank almost causes widespread panic

"In spite of the spin doctoring, there is mounting evidence to suggest that the Asian central banks have already begun to lose confidence in the Federal Reserve’s ability to rein in U.S. financial and economic excess and are quietly acting accordingly. The Bank of China, for example, has given ample indications of its long-term intentions on this matter: Roughly 50% of China's growth in foreign exchange since 2001 has been placed into dollars. Last year, however, while China saw its reserves grow by $112 billion, the dollar portion of that was only 25% or $25 billion, according to the always well-informed Montreal-based financial consultancy firm, Bank Credit Analyst. The Deputy Governor of the Bank of China has also signaled that “to ward off foreign exchange risks, China needs to readjust the current structure, increasing the proportion of the euro in its foreign exchange reserves.”.