Reuters reports that Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson is in the middle of oil country -- Qatar -- talking about how a strong dollar is in the U.S. interest. With the dollar down 72% since January 2001, it would be nice if Paulson would use his power to strengthen the dollar.

Unfortunately, he doesn't have enough power or chooses not to use it. The power to influence the strength of the dollar resides in the Oval Office. With a $410 billion budget deficit, $9.4 trillion in government borrowing, and interest rates that have dropped from 5.25% to 2% since August, it's not a big surprise that the dollar is so weak.

And since oil is denominated in those ever-weaker dollars, the price of gasoline tops $4 a gallon -- a big "surprise" to the Oval Office occupant. Nevertheless, this is great news for Qatar and its neighboring countries. Our leaders are protecting the interests of those Middle Eastern countries -- both through military policies and economic ones -- while talking about a strong dollar.

Those countries have outsourced their military defense to the U.S. And the rest of us are paying the price.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.

Paulson talks strong dollar, acts weak originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 01 Jun 2008 09:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Blackstone Group will sell 10% of itself [WSJ subscription required] to China's new investment arm prior to Blackstone's initial public offering (IPO). If there was ever an example of how capital is reducing the importance of national boundaries, this is it.

This Blackstone investment -- for a non-controlling stake -- is clearly a bargaining chip in the economically tense relationship between China and the U.S. We need China, since it's financing a big chunk of the $8.8 trillion U.S. federal debt -- it owns $350 billion worth of U.S. Treasury securities.

But China also accounts for a share of the politically sensitive U.S. trade deficit. And due to what Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson considers China's artificially low currency, this trade deficit is not going away. Somehow China, which is coming to the U.S. for trade talks, thinks that having its State Investment Company buy $3 billion worth of Blackstone Group at 95.5% of the IPO price will mollify its critics.

One thing for sure -- China's stake will help Blackstone avoid the problems that Carlyle Group encountered in its efforts to buy companies in China. I guess China would be better off if Blackstone owned the U.S. government. Then again, given that Steve Schwarzman raised $1.2 million last month for Republicans during a New York fund-raiser at his 34 room apartment featuring his Yale dorm mate -- George W. Bush -- maybe China's investment in Blackstone is Bush's payback for Schwarzman's fund-raising.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.

Is China's investment in Blackstone a Bush payback to Schwarzman? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 20 May 2007 16:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.