Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Monday repeated his mantra that a strong dollar is in the best interests of the US, even as the currency was hitting fresh lows against the euro.
"I believe that a strong dollar is in our nation's interest and also that currency values should be set in a competitive marketplace based upon underlying economic fundamentals," Paulson said in response to a question about the greenback at a US-India CEO forum in Mumbai.
The markets say otherwise.
Look -- if the US wants a "strong dollar policy" they have to act like a strong dollar economy. That means things like exporting more than they import and not issuing mammoth amounts of new debt every year. You just can't say it; you have to act in a way that leads to that result.
2 comments:
One imagines that he also believes that our national infrastructure decisions should also be made in markets ... non-competitive will do if no competitive markets are available ... without government intervention ...
... despite the currency market judgment in favor of nations that happen to actively pursue public infrastructure investments that support the productivity of the private sector.
Not to mention that the "competitive marketplace" he's describing involves lots of buying by mercantilistic central banks. But I guess he has to pretend it ain't so, because if he acknowledged reality, the markets get a case of the vapors.
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