The Koran Times reports,
“The escalating “currency war” between the United States, China and Japan is encouraging Korea and other nations to thoroughly review their foreign exchange rate regimes.
The Korean government had not wanted the tricky Sino-American issue to spoil the G20 summit to be held in Seoul in November. But recent remarks from influential figures such as Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, and Sakong Il, the chairman of Seoul’s G20 committee, indicate that the issue will be unavoidable.
“The foreign exchange rate will be discussed in the upcoming summit as part of a global economic framework discussion,” Sakong acknowledged last Thursday during a promotional event of the G20 committee.
His remark reflects the general consensus reached at an international forum held on Tuesday and Wednesday in Seoul, where many participants such as former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin insisted the G20 treat the exchange rate issue more seriously”.
Widely read columnist and hedge fund manager Bill Fleckenstein provides additional insight on the next round of quantitative easing,
“What actually is not known is what form said QE2 will take. “Fed mulls new bond approach,” a story in the Sept. 28 Wall Street Journal by Fed reporter (and mouthpiece) Jon Hilsenrath, suggested that our central-bank powers that be have not decided exactly how to implement its QE2. According to the article, any Fed action to push money into the economy would likely be on the small side, yet over a longer period, as opposed to a large, short-lived “shock and awe” approach.
Even more important than Hilsenrath’s article was an above-the-fold column Sept. 27 in the Financial Times headlined “Brazil in ‘currency war’ alert,” in which Brazil’s finance minister declared: “We’re in the midst of an international currency war, a general weakening of currency. This threatens us because it takes away our competitiveness.”