Obama's Treasury man resorting to China bashing?
Business Times - 26 Jan 2009 COMMENTARY Obama's Treasury man resorting to China bashing? Geithner's 'currency manipulation' remarks raise fears that new US administration sees Beijing as global competitor By LEON HADAR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT IF, AS Samuel Johnson once said, 'patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel', then protectionism provides the last protection for the economic loser. And 'China bashing', on the other hand, seems to be the first sanctuary of the maker of policy or law in Washington searching for a scapegoat to blame for his or her nation's geoeconomic and geostrategic woes. In many traditional English mystery novels, we discover at the end of the story that the butler did it, while in the Washington tale of economic mess, the role of the butler is played by the Chinaman who emerges as the villain of first resort. So it was not surprising that US President Barack Obama's choice of Treasury Secretary, financial wunderkin...