Currency Wars
Encyclopedia
Currency Wars by Song Hong bing, also known as The Currency War, is a bestselling book in China
, reportedly selling over 200,000 copies and is reportedly being read by many senior level government and business leaders in China. Originally published in 2007 the book gained a resurgence in 2009 and is seen as a prominent exponent of a recently emerged genre labeled "economic nationalist" literature. Another bestselling book within this genre is Unhappy China
, however, unlike this and other books within this genre, Currency Wars has been received more positively by the Chinese leadership as its recommendations are seen as less aggressive towards the US. The premise of this book is that Western countries are ultimately controlled by a group of private banks, which, according to the book, runs their central banks. This book uses the claim that the Federal Reserve is a private body to support its role. The book's author correctly predicted a banking crisis in the US in 2008. More than 1 million of this book were sold.
In July 2009 the book was followed by a second sequel, Currency Wars 2 : World of Gold Privilege, published by China Industry and Commerce Publishing House (ISBN-13: 978-9573265214) , which The Financial Times reported as being one of the most popular books in China by late 2009.. More than two million copies have been sold. In this book Mr Song predicted that by 2024, the world's single currency system will mature. He believes that if China can not be dominant in this system, it should not participate, but should be self-hill, have their own sphere of financial influence. This last topic is much more developed in the third sequel.
In May 2011, Currency Wars 3 : Financial High Frontier, a third sequel was published by Yuan-Liou Publishing (ISBN：9789573267843). It discuss more specifically the modern Chinese History (from Chiang Kai-shek to the depreciation in the long term trend of U.S. dollar) seen from a Currency War perspective. It pushes towards an isolationist financial policy.
, the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, the Latin American financial crisis and others are attributed to this cause. It also claims that the Rothschild Family
has the wealth of 5 trillion dollars whereas Bill Gates
only has 40 billion dollars.
Mr Song also is of the same opinion as congressman Ron Paul - that the famous U.S. central bank - the Federal Reserve, is not a department of state functions, but several private banks operated by the private sector, and that theses private banks are loyal to the ubiquitous Rothschild family.
On June 4, 1963 President Kennedy signed a virtually unknown Presidential decree, which, as an amendment to Executive Order 10289, delegated the authority to issue silver certificates (notes convertible to silver on demand) to the Secretary of the Treasury. The direct consequence was that the Federal Reserve lost its monopoly to control money.
The book looks back at history and argues that fiat currency
itself is a conspiracy; it sees in the abolishing of representative currency and the installment of fiat currency a struggle between the "banking clique" and the governments of the western nations, ending in the victory of the former. It advises the Chinese government to keep a vigilant eye on China's currency and instate a representative currency. The book, published in 2007, also correctly described and warned of the various forms of derivative speculation used by Wall Street which eventually became the causes of massive margin call sell offs and stock market crash in late 2008.
Fred Hu, managing director of Goldman Sachs Group, said the currency wars were "non existent".. He uses in his review words as "a simple out of line, outrageous distortion ", "many errors, out of context, far-fetched, exaggerated, or simply speculate, uncertain", and conclusion to this book as "melted mixed the ultra-left trend of thought, far-right tendencies, populism, isolationism, anarchism".
According to Zhang Jiayi, we could think that the "currency wars" series of books goal in promoting the conspiracy theory is precisely to meet the angry psychology of youth.
Professor Chen Zhiwu (University of Yale) and Professor Zhang Xin (University of Toledo/Ohio) also reviewed badly the first book.
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, reportedly selling over 200,000 copies and is reportedly being read by many senior level government and business leaders in China. Originally published in 2007 the book gained a resurgence in 2009 and is seen as a prominent exponent of a recently emerged genre labeled "economic nationalist" literature. Another bestselling book within this genre is Unhappy China
Unhappy China
Unhappy China—The Great Time, Grand Vision and Our Challenges is a book written by Song Qiang, Huang Jisu, Song Xiaojun, Wang Xiaodong and Liu Yang and published in March 2009...
, however, unlike this and other books within this genre, Currency Wars has been received more positively by the Chinese leadership as its recommendations are seen as less aggressive towards the US. The premise of this book is that Western countries are ultimately controlled by a group of private banks, which, according to the book, runs their central banks. This book uses the claim that the Federal Reserve is a private body to support its role. The book's author correctly predicted a banking crisis in the US in 2008. More than 1 million of this book were sold.
In July 2009 the book was followed by a second sequel, Currency Wars 2 : World of Gold Privilege, published by China Industry and Commerce Publishing House (ISBN-13: 978-9573265214) , which The Financial Times reported as being one of the most popular books in China by late 2009.. More than two million copies have been sold. In this book Mr Song predicted that by 2024, the world's single currency system will mature. He believes that if China can not be dominant in this system, it should not participate, but should be self-hill, have their own sphere of financial influence. This last topic is much more developed in the third sequel.
In May 2011, Currency Wars 3 : Financial High Frontier, a third sequel was published by Yuan-Liou Publishing (ISBN：9789573267843). It discuss more specifically the modern Chinese History (from Chiang Kai-shek to the depreciation in the long term trend of U.S. dollar) seen from a Currency War perspective. It pushes towards an isolationist financial policy.
Synopsis
According to the book, the western countries in general and the US in particular are controlled by a clique of international bankers, which use currency manipulation (hence the title) to gain wealth by first loaning money in USD to developing nations and then shorting their currency. The Japanese Lost decadeLost Decade (Japan)
The is the time after the Japanese asset price bubble's collapse within the Japanese economy, which occurred gradually rather than catastrophically...
, the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, the Latin American financial crisis and others are attributed to this cause. It also claims that the Rothschild Family
Rothschild family
The Rothschild family , known as The House of Rothschild, or more simply as the Rothschilds, is a Jewish-German family that established European banking and finance houses starting in the late 18th century...
has the wealth of 5 trillion dollars whereas Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
only has 40 billion dollars.
Mr Song also is of the same opinion as congressman Ron Paul - that the famous U.S. central bank - the Federal Reserve, is not a department of state functions, but several private banks operated by the private sector, and that theses private banks are loyal to the ubiquitous Rothschild family.
On June 4, 1963 President Kennedy signed a virtually unknown Presidential decree, which, as an amendment to Executive Order 10289, delegated the authority to issue silver certificates (notes convertible to silver on demand) to the Secretary of the Treasury. The direct consequence was that the Federal Reserve lost its monopoly to control money.
The book looks back at history and argues that fiat currency
Fiat money
Fiat money is money that has value only because of government regulation or law. The term derives from the Latin fiat, meaning "let it be done", as such money is established by government decree. Where fiat money is used as currency, the term fiat currency is used.Fiat money originated in 11th...
itself is a conspiracy; it sees in the abolishing of representative currency and the installment of fiat currency a struggle between the "banking clique" and the governments of the western nations, ending in the victory of the former. It advises the Chinese government to keep a vigilant eye on China's currency and instate a representative currency. The book, published in 2007, also correctly described and warned of the various forms of derivative speculation used by Wall Street which eventually became the causes of massive margin call sell offs and stock market crash in late 2008.
Reception
The book has achieved bestseller status in China. The Financial Times described the book's thesis are far-fetched, and described it as only passably entertaining, though they acknowledged the book's huge popularity in China.Fred Hu, managing director of Goldman Sachs Group, said the currency wars were "non existent".. He uses in his review words as "a simple out of line, outrageous distortion ", "many errors, out of context, far-fetched, exaggerated, or simply speculate, uncertain", and conclusion to this book as "melted mixed the ultra-left trend of thought, far-right tendencies, populism, isolationism, anarchism".
According to Zhang Jiayi, we could think that the "currency wars" series of books goal in promoting the conspiracy theory is precisely to meet the angry psychology of youth.
Professor Chen Zhiwu (University of Yale) and Professor Zhang Xin (University of Toledo/Ohio) also reviewed badly the first book.
External links
- Official blog of 'Currency War' (Chinese)
- Chinese buy into conspiracy theory
- Review of Currency Wars
- Review of Currency War 2
- Mr Song's interview about "Currency War 2" on Sina channel (Chinese)
- Detailed Table of Contents of Currency War (Chinese)
- Detailed Table of Contents of Currency War 3 (Chinese)