The flag of PROCUSA embodies the loss of American sovereignty to the Peoples Republic of China due to the financial meltdown of American capitalism along with the insurmountable debt of American government.
A government-sponsored entity of the People's Republic of China that seeks to invest in securities and commodities abroad. The CIC was initially funded with around $200 billion, which originated from the issuance of long-term treasury bonds by the People's Bank of China (PBOC). The bond proceeds were then converted into dollars through the foreign exchange market.
The CIC provides a vehicle for investing the massive trade surplus that exists in the nation. The CIC will receive regular inflows of capital to help suppress this figure.
Speculations abound as to how the CIC will impact the world financial markets. China has been a large investor in U.S. Treasuries for many years, but hopes to earn a higher return on its foreign investments by diving into stocks, bonds and commodities such as oil and gold. Critics point to general corruption in China's political and economic system and wonder what kind of regulations will exist within the CIC to prevent it from being run in a similar fashion.
One of the first announced investments of the CIC was a 10% stake in U.S.-based private equity firm Blackstone Group, a move that sparked concern on Wall Street at the prospect of Chinese influence on U.S. corporate operations through the stock market.
An economic measure of a negative balance of trade in which a country's imports exceeds its exports. A trade deficit represents an outflow of domestic currency to foreign markets.
Economic theory dictates that a trade deficit is not necessarily a bad situation because it often corrects itself over time. However, a deficit has been reported and growing in the United States for the past few decades, which has some economists worried. This means that large amounts of the U.S. dollar are being held by foreign nations, which may decide to sell at any time. A large increase in dollar sales can drive the value of the currency down, making it more costly to purchase imports.
A record of all transactions made between one particular country and all other countries during a specified period of time. BOP compares the dollar difference of the amount of exports and imports, including all financial exports and imports. A negative balance of payments means that more money is flowing out of the country than coming in, and vice versa.
Balance of payments may be used as an indicator of economic and political stability. For example, if a country has a consistently positive BOP, this could mean that there is significant foreign investment within that country. It may also mean that the country does not export much of its currency.
This is just another economic indicator of a country's relative value and, along with all other indicators, should be used with caution. The BOP includes the trade balance, foreign investments and investments by foreigners.
The difference between a country's imports and its exports. Balance of trade is the largest component of a country's balance of payments. Debit items include imports, foreign aid, domestic spending abroad and domestic investments abroad. Credit items include exports, foreign spending in the domestic economy and foreign investments in the domestic economy. A country has a trade deficit if it imports more than it exports; the opposite scenario is a trade surplus.
Also referred to as "trade balance".
The balance of trade is one of the most misunderstood indicators of the U.S. economy. For example, many people believe that a trade deficit is a bad thing. However, whether a trade deficit is bad thing is relative to the business cycle and economy. In a recession, countries like to export more, creating jobs and demand. In a strong expansion, countries like to import more, providing price competition, which limits inflation and, without increasing prices, provides goods beyond the economy's ability to meet supply. Thus, a trade deficit is not a good thing during a recession but may help during an expansion.
Occurs when a country's total imports of goods, services and transfers is greater than the country's total export of goods, services and transfers. This situation makes a country a net debtor to the rest of the world.
A substantial current account deficit is not necessarily a bad thing for certain countries. Developing counties may run a current account deficit in the short term to increase local productivity and exports in the future.
A nation with a cumulative balance of payments deficit. A debtor nation has negative net investment after recording all of the financial transactions it has completed worldwide.
Nations that have invested fewer resources than the rest of the world has invested in them are known as debtor nations. In 2006, The United States was the world's biggest debtor nation, posting a trade deficit of more than $61 billion and total debt of trillions of dollars.
One of the biggest contributors to America's status as debtor is the availability of inexpensive manufacturing capabilities in China, as more and more U.S.-based businesses spend vast amounts of money in China for that purpose.
The market in which currencies are traded. The forex market is the largest, most liquid market in the world with an average traded value that exceeds $1.9 trillion per day and includes all of the currencies in the world.
There is no central marketplace for currency exchange; trade is conducted over the counter. The forex market is open 24 hours a day, five days a week, and currencies are traded worldwide among the major financial centers of London, New York, Tokyo, Zürich, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris and Sydney - spanning most time zones.
The forex is the largest market in the world in terms of the total cash value traded, and any person, firm or country may participate in this market.
A situation in which liabilities exceed assets, expenditures exceed income, imports exceed exports, or losses exceed profits.
A deficit is the opposite of a surplus. If a country imports more than it exports, it is said to have a trade deficit. Many scholars feel that a trade deficit can not be sustained in perpetuity.
The market where borrowers and mortgage originators come together to negotiate terms and effectuate mortgage transaction. Mortgage brokers, mortgage bankers, credit unions and banks are all part of the primary mortgage market.
After being originated in the primary mortgage market, most mortgages are sold into the secondary mortgage market. Unknown to many borrowers is that their mortgages usually end up as part of a package of mortgages that comprise a mortgage-backed security (MBS), asset-backed security (ABS) or collateralized debt obligation (CDO).
A type of mortgage-backed security that creates separate pools of pass-through rates for different classes of bondholders with varying maturities, called tranches. The repayments from the pool of pass-through securities are used to retire the bonds in the order specified by the bonds' prospectus.
Here is an example how a very simple CMO works: The investors in the CMO are divided up into three classes. They are called either class A, B or C investors. Each class differs in the order they receive principal payments, but receives interest payments as long as it is not completely paid off. Class A investors are paid out first with prepayments and repayments until they are paid off. Then class B investors are paid off, followed by class C investors. In a situation like this, class A investors bear most of the prepayment risk, while class C investors bear the least.
CMOs usually offer low returns because they are very low risk and are sometimes backed by government securities.
An investment-grade bond backed by a pool of junk bonds. Junk bonds are typically not investment grade, but because they pool several types of credit quality bonds together, they offer enough diversification to be "investment grade."
Similar in structure to a collateralized mortgage obligation (CMO), but different in that CBOs represent different levels of credit risk, not different maturities.
