Bankruptcy

Interesting Moves by Russia and China

By mcbride

Two interesting and unrelated moves by Russia and China are being reported today by the BBC.  China, the largest holder of US debt, has reduced its holdings of US securities by 3% in July (25 billion).  However, note that China?s overall holdings of US debt are 7% higher than they were in January of this year.  (Think of all the sales the US had to have in the last 8 months to fund the huge deficits.)   China is still talking about its desire to find/establish an alternative currency to the US dollar, as a way of showing its concerns over record US deficits, needed to cover the costs of all the ?stimulus.?  [link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8207174.stm ]

 On to Russia: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has stated that the Russian government will  buy Russian mined diamonds to prop up that industry which has been hard hit by the economic downturn.  This will be a part of a 1 billion dollar ?assistance program? for the diamond miner, Alrosa, which produces 25% of the world?s rough diamonds.  [link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8213980.stm ]

 Commentary: What makes this Russian bail out interesting is that at the end of the day, the Russian government has something of value: diamonds, which in the event of a currency collapse, can be used as money. 

 Michael

Full post as published by Texas Lawyer Blog on August 21, 2009 (boomark / email).