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June 08, 2007

What Do Stocks Have to do With the Price of Pork in China?
by Peter Schiff

By tripling the tax on brokerage transactions, the Chinese government succeeded, at least temporarily, in restraining the surging Chinese stock market. But my expectation is that the correction will be short-lived. It's not that the Chinese stock market is not a bubble, as it clearly is, only that more air will likely inflate it further before it finally bursts.

While Chinese concerns over a potentially bursting bubble are legitimate, their attempts to discourage further speculation can be compared to the captain of a sinking ship who dispenses teaspoons to his crew instead of fixing the gaping hole in the hull. The giant hole in the Chinese economy is the currency peg to the dollar. In order to maintain it, China must pursue a highly inflationary monetary policy which fuels the stock bubble. As long as they continue this policy, dispensing teaspoons will have little effect.

The effects of inflation are not limited to stock prices. Pork prices in China, the primary meat in the Chinese diet, rose over 30% in May alone (live hog prices actually rose over 70%)! In order to hedge against such persistent price increases, Chinese savers are being forced into the stock market. The alternative is to watch the value of their savings erode as the government debases the yuan to prevent the U.S. dollar from collapsing.

Initially, a dollar peg brought stability to China. When the dollar was sound, discipline was required to keep a pegged currency from falling. Now that the dollar is weak, inflation is required to keep it from rising. It's analogous to tethering your monetary ship to the Titanic. Failure to cast off the line will inevitably sink the pegged currency along with the dollar.

Recently two Arab nations have done just that. Within the last three weeks, both Syria and Kuwait de-linked their currencies to the dollar. Other Gulf States will likely follow suit, with The United Arab Emirates looking like the next domino. The most logical progression would be for these nations to no longer price crude oil in dollars.

Perhaps these actions will cause the Chinese to begin abandoning their defense of the dollar in much the same way the U.S. did with the British pound in 1929. When that happens China's stock market bubble will burst, but its economy will be on much firmer ground as a result. Though nominal stock prices will decline, the value of the yuan will soar, mitigating the real extent of the losses. Despite some short-term pain, China will not experience anything like our Great Depression (as long as they do not make the same mistakes that Hoover and Roosevelt made).

America however will not be so lucky. Our stock market and economy will fare much worse, as a collapsing dollar will exacerbate the real value of the declines.

For a more in depth analysis of the tenuous position of the American economy and U.S. dollar denominated investments, read my new book "Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse." Click here to order a copy today.

More importantly make sure to protect your wealth and preserve your purchasing power before it's too late. Discover the best way to buy gold at www.goldyoucanfold.com, download my free research report on the powerful case for investing in foreign equities available at www.researchreportone.com, and subscribe to my free, on-line investment newsletter at http://www.europac.net/newsletter/newsletter.asp.

Peter Schiff C.E.O. and Chief Global Strategist
Euro Pacific Capital, Inc.

Mr. Schiff is one of the few non-biased investment advisors (not committed solely to the short side of the market) to have correctly called the current bear market before it began and to have positioned his clients accordingly. As a result of his accurate forecasts on the U.S. stock market, commodities, gold and the dollar, he is becoming increasingly more renowned. He has been quoted in many of the nations leading newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Investor's Business Daily, The Financial Times, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Dallas Morning News, The Miami Herald, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Arizona Republic, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Christian Science Monitor, and has appeared on CNBC, CNNfn., and Bloomberg. In addition, his views are frequently quoted locally in the Orange County Register.

Mr. Schiff began his investment career as a financial consultant with Shearson Lehman Brothers, after having earned a degree in finance and accounting from U.C. Berkley in 1987. A financial professional for seventeen years he joined Euro Pacific in 1996 and has served as its President since January 2000. An expert on money, economic theory, and international investing, he is a highly recommended broker by many of the nation's financial newsletters and advisory services.

Copyright © 2005-2009 Euro Pacific Capital, Inc.

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