Sinomania!

Upon returning from his first official trip to Beijing, Secretary of Treasury Paulson met with Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) yesterday to discuss the looming vote (postponed from earlier this year – see my previous posts) on their measure to slap 27.5% tariffs on Chinese imports. Graham now says they need a few days to further consider halting the effort that has been widely criticized as lunacy by the world’s financial big wigs and condemned officially today by the Chinese foreign ministry.

Meanwhile the US dollar continues to improve against China’s currency as the Yuan float accelerates.

Neither Graham nor Schumer is up for reelection this year but Graham has something to lose politically. South Carolina based Mt. Vernon Mills, which owns 17 textile mills in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, and California, is a major contributer to Graham’s coffers. And Mt. Vernon Mills owner, Reverend Bob Pamplin (lives in Oregon) is a Republican fundy middleweight. Will Graham be tempted to jeopardize the global economy to save a few 19th Century jobs and milltowns for a fading plutocrat?