U.S. jobless totals are getting no lift from Chinese bras

[NVMojo]

WASHINGTON -- It's a safe bet that U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Lindsey Graham didn't talk bras when they were in Beijing last week complaining about the trade deficit and the undervalued yuan.

They should have.

The saga of the bra in the global trading system is a metaphor of how warped the trade debate has become.

Mr. Schumer and Mr. Graham speak for a disturbing protectionist consensus in Washington that believes the trade deficit -- and the broader current account gap -- is ruining the U.S. economy and must be eliminated.

They want China, which pegs its currency to the U.S. dollar, to let the yuan float higher, making its bras, TVs and everything else it makes more expensive for Americans. If they don't, Congress is threatening to hit China with a 27.5-per-cent tariff.

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060328.IBWORLD28/TPStory/Business

[NNadir]

1. I had no idea that we had a bra deficit.

I should have suspected.

[Betsy Ross]

3. I'm doing my part.

I can make one last for years, wearing it only on Sundays.

[FloridaPat]

2. Can someone explain this too me. Our gov't helped ship most of

the manufacturing jobs overseas. China now sends us tons of stuff. We buy and send US dollars to China. So our gov't wants China to raise their prices so it becomes more expensive for us to buy stuff? But inflation is OK, except for food and gas. So if the price of goods goes up 30% from overseas, this will do what to whom? And I'm sure inflation will be all right except for food, gas, and anything from China.