That strikes a chord.
Adam Smith’s ‘self interest’ does not equate to selfishness, which is often how it is interpreted by the whingeing bullies.
The greed is good philosophy.
Self interested actions are not purely selfish as Smith himself alludes to when he says that we are all incompetent without social, cultural and familial support.
Self interest has a component that acknowledges this reality and so it also supports society, culture, family, rule of law etc.
Smith sees the freedom to trade as an essential part of our support network and as an expression of our ‘self evident’ equality.

Brad, those headlines are kinda indicative of the high emotions surrounding any financial crisis but do not represent even 10% of the suffering and drastic measures imposed on the asian nations involved. The resolve of never again might help explain the drive behind ever higher reserves.If there’s humour surrounding the present crisis, it may just be that the harsh principles preached by the IMF and western countries are now so blatantly being ignored in favour of more palatable policies, as a brit friend has noted, the present crisis has exposed the financial system as a whingeing bully.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=acXcm.yk56Ko&refer=economy

the material i had on the dollar was more heat than light.

Majorajam — thanks, by the way.

That said, there are certainly some zip codes near me where the PLA could do some real good. But getting to know one’s creditors is a long way from actually handing over the keys.

The BWII financiers are making two major decisions relevant to Americans: holding pegs which require them to buy large numbers of dollars, and keeping these funds in dollar securities rather than playing “hot potato” with them.

I think it’s safe to say both these choices are political, not financial. They are made in extremely opaque ways, but neither (though perhaps to a small degree the second) seems to be at CIC or ADIA.

Allocating dollar investments within the US financial system has its effect, but it can be overstated. For example, if SWFs stop buying bonds entirely and buy only equities, they will push up P/Es and squeeze private money back into the bond market. In theory. If you believe in efficient markets.

So I took the comment a little more generally – Americans should certainly know that they are in this strange relationship with foreign governments, and understand what said governments are gettting out of the game. I don’t think anyone has suggested that their intentions are charitable.