What a surprise. Here comes the ineffectual response on Chinese currency manipulation so the U.S. can pass the buck again.

The Chinese government is preparing to announce in coming days that it will allow its currency to strengthen slightly and vary more from day to day, a move being taken for domestic policy reasons in China but likely to please the Obama administration, people with knowledge of the emerging consensus in Beijing said on Thursday.

The article goes on to claim this is a political windfall for the Obama administration.

But, of course any annoucement could be delayed:

While any announcement could still be delayed, China’s central bank appears to have prevailed with its arguments within the Chinese leadership for a stronger but more flexible currency, known as the renminbi or yuan, the people with knowledge of the consensus said.

From my knowledge, this is standard China policy fare to make sure the United States takes no concrete action. Repeatedly China has made moves under pressure, but long after the damage is done and also when such policy changes have no real effect. The New York Times is absurd to report this as a significant policy shift or any win for the Obama administration.

Meanwhile the United States has lost 2.4 million jobs in 8 years.

The reality is the Renminbi is undervalued by 40% to the U.S. dollar, so obviously a slight increase, isn't going to have much effect.

So, what's this huge current jump? What is this great Chinese currency revaluation number? 2%. The Street Insider is reporting it's 2%, relative to the U.S. dollar.

2% is not even the 5% we previously heard for a one time currency re-evaluation! While a re-evaluation process over time is to be expected and required, obviously 2% is less than half what was originally reported China would do before all of the Congressional pressure began!

Folks, this is not a political windfall, it's more political shenanigans to stop Congress from taking serious action on Chinese currency manipulation in response to China's continual mercantile trade policies for an unfair trade advantage.