This is a fig leaf. It's an attempt by the Chinese to do the least amount possible,

There is always some fig leaf being used.

I've never turned over a fig leaf yet that didn't have a price tag on the other side.

As long as housing prices don't go down, consumers have more equity they can borrow against. If mortgage rates go up another 1.25 or 1.5 percent and pierce 7 percent -- watch out. That's when the housing bubble bursts and consumers would cut back on spending a lot.

But when you find someone working on the assembly line at General Motors is making more than a Detroit policeman, you see that support start to decline.

The overvalued dollar will contribute mightily to the US trade deficit until the Bush administration takes decisive action.