# Bush's Dollar Gamble: International Capital Flows & Balancing Acts

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bushs-dollar-gamble-international-capital-flows-balancing-acts/176537>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [May 21, 2003, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bushs-dollar-gamble-international-capital-flows-balancing-acts/176537 "2003-05-21T12:57:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![pantom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/34f0e0/32.png) [@pantom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantom)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2003, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bushs-dollar-gamble-international-capital-flows-balancing-acts/176537/41 "2003-06-18T23:17:20Z")

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Resurrecting this to post an interesting story from the Washington Post speculating on the possibility of floating the yuan:  
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6932-2003Jun17.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6932-2003Jun17.html)

The most interesting part came at the end:

> [@](#):
>
> Nicholas Lardy, a specialist on the Chinese economy at the Institute for International Economics, said that China’s current account surplus – the broadest measure of the trade balance – has “deteriorated dramatically this year.” The surplus was a healthy 3 percent of gross domestic product last year, but in the first five months of this year it has tipped into a small deficit, Lardy reckoned.
> 
> “Maybe for the sake of good relations with the U.S., they might make some modest appreciation,” Lardy said. “But my guess is, there won’t be any in the short run.”

**China Guy** , if you’re around, why has China’s surplus with the rest of the world shrunk? Being here in the U.S., all I see is the ballooning deficit we have with China. What gives?

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**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bushs-dollar-gamble-international-capital-flows-balancing-acts/176537/42 "2003-06-19T19:48:33Z")

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My guess is that they’re using those US dollars to drive down their surplus elsewhere. We’re financing China’s spending spree.

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