“Increase government spending” says Bush
GW Bush, US issues - - Posted on September, 5 at 6:06 pm by Ken L
Bush gave this answer at today’s joint press conference with Howard (and wasn’t it sweet that amongst all the ‘George and John’ bonhomie, one of only two Australian journos invited to ask a question was ‘Dennis’):
Our relationship with China is complex. On the one hand, we appreciate the opportunity to trade goods and services. We certainly hope that China changes from a saving society to a consuming society. Right now, because of the lack of a safety net, many Chinese save for what we call a rainy day. What we want is the government to provide more of a safety net so they start buying more US and Australian products. We want there to be a - the middle class to feel comfortable coming into the marketplace, the global marketplace, so that our producers can see the benefits directly with trade with China.
He’s been on about this stuff before.
In an interview with conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, Mr Bush said China should become “a society in which there’s consumers. Because now they’re a society of too many savers”.
“And the reason why they’re saving so much money is because there’s not a pension plan or a legitimate health care system. And so, therefore, people hoard the money they have in anticipating a bad day,” said the president.
“If we can encourage China to become a country of consumers, you can imagine what it would mean for US producers and manufacturers to have access to that market,” he said.
This is just bizarre, even by Bush’s standards. I mean we used to lecture them about human rights and freedom and all that good stuff but now we lecture them about saving too much? Gosh, I remember when saving was one of the great American moral virtues. Now the path to glory is to stop being prudent so you can look after yourselves and let the nanny state take care of your health and old age, that way you can go out and run up a massive consumer debt just like people in civilised countries like the USA and Australia.
It’s an odd message coming at a time when the US economy is creaking under the strains caused by too many people borrowing too much easy money, especially when America is one country that’s never been prepared to establish comprehensive health and pension systems. Bush’s rhetoric must have small government Republicans in the USA reeling and the libertarians desperately looking for another country to emigrate to.
Introduce the welfare state so citizens can rush out and spend spend spend. Maggie Thatcher must be wondering where Reagan’s legacy went wrong.
September 5th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
Well said, Ken. If “there’s not a pension plan or a legitimate health care system.” is a criticism to be levelled at countries, then surely the Bush and Howard governments both deserve it - both have systematically privatised both health and pensions. But we (and the Yanks) consume mightily - probably enough to please even Dubya. I can’t help wondering, though, exactly what he thinks the US makes that China doesn’t (and cheaper) that they would like to import. Hummers, maybe?
September 5th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
No, it’s not just Bushinsanity this time - I heard an economist saying the same thing on RN the other day. I didn’t get his name, but he made that exact point, that to save the world economy the Chinese need to stop saving so much, dang it.
World’s gone mad. Mad, I tell you.
September 5th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
Good points Ken…
Bush is a damn fool. He acts like a buffoon who thinks about nothing but where he can play, eat & piss next…& playing runs the gambit from using killing toys to eradicate the Iraqi Resistance (”we’re kickin’ ass!” he smugly tells the Aussie Deputy PM who queries “how are things going in Iraq?”…i bet that’s gonna go down in Baghdad as well as the dopey “Bring it on!” comment”)…to using his expensive & brave secret service to find suitable bike routes so he can pump away a few kilos after his days of gluttony (I wonder if Tony Abbott, Minister of Cycling will join him for a sweat-soaked session?)…
I might add, the “meat eater” comments comin’ outa that greed soaked face made me glad i’m a vegetarian…the man reminds me of some lecherous Roman Emperor prepared to gorge on any dead carcass that comes his way, willing to sacrifice any man or beast in an attempt to fill his empty soul & voracious appetite for destruction.
I can imagine those Chinese who’ve put aside a few yuan for a rainy day might be wondering why any Bushevik would criticise their approach to life considering their piggy banks have been raided by the Neo-Cons & their financial backers time & time again to pay for this BOGUS War & to keep the average American consumer’s Xmas trees littered w/ goodies.
Considering the upcoming depreciation of the American dollar thanks to the Federal Reserve shooting out more funds it doesn’t have, i’m sure plenty of those Chinese savers might be thinkin’ twice about letting the Americans get anymore access to their moolah.
But isn’t that typical of Bush, to piss in the restaurant & on the Chefs who keep him & his Country fed?
And whilst the child Emperor is away, his asylum room mate Cheney, the madman of Wyoming, has decided to up the ante w/ Iran & pave the way to HELLCLONE:
http://www.infowars.com/articles/ww3/iran_cheney_orders_media_sell_iran_attack.htm
September 5th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
The problem with China and much of Asia is the distorted pattern of savings because their Govts don’t provide a satisfactory investment climate in their own countries. That means savers go looking for better investment climates, like your real estate and look at the affordability crisis there now. For Chinese they have to invest through Govt channels which means US Treasury notes, artificially driving down interest rates, causing further malinvestments in the West. Essentially Asian savings should be driving Asian investment(and Asian lifestyles) and not Sydney house prices. That’s what Bush is getting at. Asians will wake up eventually, when they realise their savings have been pissed up against the wall with sub-prime loans.
September 5th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
“And whilst the child Emperor is away, his asylum room mate Cheney, the madman of Wyoming, has decided to up the ante w/ Iran & pave the way to HELLCLONE:”
Relax nasking. Ourmadjihad has done the maths and worked out it aint gunna happen.
September 5th, 2007 at 11:46 pm
Here’s the problem in a nutshell
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22356033-2682,00.html
September 6th, 2007 at 3:45 am
Nope, this is the problem:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/09/04/addington/index.html
Imagine the urge some must have in America to set up a false flag event, knowing they might be able to undermine the FISA Court once & for all?
Outa the mouths of Cheneyiacs.
September 6th, 2007 at 7:47 am
Far too many generalisations when it comes to commenting on Chinese “habits” of any kind. The only thing straightforward about China is the system of government - it’s communist and crooked whereas ours is not communist.
Everything regarding the beliefs, lifestyles, hopes etc of a country as wildly diverse as China is way too complex to give any sort of broadbrush treatment to their saving habits or anything else. Look after yourself and stop trying to influence things beyong your ken.
September 6th, 2007 at 10:24 am
Anyone know where Aussie Bob is? Can’t remember seeing a comment of his for a while now.
September 6th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
Freaking hilarious. The ant lectures the Grasshopper as the storm clouds roll in, angrily arguing that it’s not fair he has been saving and working all through the summer while the ant has been spending like a drunken sailor.
Bush to China: Please stop being so careful with your money and be spendthrifts like us, because…
…umm…
…it would make things easier for us.
One would almost think Bush didn’t realise he was talking to his creditors.
As my brother’s Chinese wife puts it: “Most Westerners are one pay packet away from bankruptcy”.
September 6th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
It’s fun listening to people who believe in the primacy of the market argue that, in the interests of the smooth functioning of that market, a country like China should subordinate it’s national interest to that same market.
I’m sure the Chinese will see the light, of course, and stop saving their own money. I mean, the British were suffering from a terrible balance of trade with China in the 19th century, as they just couldn’t convince the Middle Kingdom that it was in their own best interests (well, the best interests of The Market, but we all know that’s the same thing) to buy their goods. Instead, they just took British silver and offered the Brits tea and porcelain.
Those ignorant Chinese just didn’t realise that they were stuffing up the equilibrium of the market, but in the end the British fought the Opium Wars to remove market impediments to free trade and create a growing class of consumers for their new export trade (!)
I’m sure the Chinese have forgotten this little episode of the self-correcting Invisible Hand of the Market, and so it was perfectly sensible of Bush to remind them.
Of course they’ll now adhere more stringently to Chicago School doctrine and we’ll undoubtedly reach the long awaited, ever prophesised, market equilibrium.
September 6th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
For Chinese they have to invest through Govt channels which means US Treasury notes, artificially driving down interest rates, causing further malinvestments in the West.
And not incidentally servicing the US deficit.
Essentially Asian savings should be driving Asian investment(and Asian lifestyles) and not Sydney house prices.
And the occupation of Iraq, of course.
That’s what Bush is getting at. Asians will wake up eventually, when they realise their savings have been pissed up against the wall with sub-prime loans.
Oh, and keeping the US econmomy afloat, of course, so the US consumers can keep buying Chinese products and the US government can maintain its massive deficits.
Do you really think the Chinese should stop investing in US Treasury Bonds and funding the US deficit?
Funnily enough, when the Chinese made noises recently about doing that, it was delivered as a threat. They described it as the ‘Nuclear Option’.
September 7th, 2007 at 10:56 am
I still agree with Austrain economists that the root of the problem is resort to the printing press world wide. Currency that is static or appreciating in value, causes much more circumspection about just who you’re going to lend it to and why.
Asians savers have that old dilemma now. Owe the bank $100,000 and can’t pay and you’ve got a problem. Owe the bank a few million and they’ve got a problem.
September 7th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Owe the bank a few million and they’ve got a problem.
Sure. But then the first thing the bank will do is stop lending, isn’t it? What will the US do then? By some accounts the US needs nearly $2 billion dollars a day just to keep all the plates spinning.
Sure they can default, and tell the Asian central banks it’s their problem now.
But then those same banks will turn off the tap of investment money - in fact, that’s exactly what the Chinese have threatened to do.
September 7th, 2007 at 6:33 pm
You know in all those scary futuristic novels of my youth, like 1984 and Brave New World, the state was always run by ruthlessly competent and efficient people.
What did we get in practice? George W Bush talking economics with Rush bleedin’ Limbaugh.
September 8th, 2007 at 9:39 am
In gold we trust eh?
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/II08Dj02.html