Infographic: How China Manipulates Its Currency   Here is a
snapshot, via Google Finance, of the value of the Chinese RMB
against the U.S. dollar. For a time before 2006, the exchange
resembled a flat line. Ditto between 2008 and 2010. This is what
a fixed exchange rate looks like.  China manipulates
currency.png But how does China accomplish this, exactly? Jim
Fallows explained the "voyage of a dollar" in five easy steps in
a 2008 Atlantic article. I've translated that passage into an
infographic. Jim's original passage appears below. I've inserted
numbers to help you follow the picture.  how china controls.png
The voyage of a dollar (by Jim Fallows)  1) Let's say you buy an
Oral-B electric toothbrush for $30 at a CVS in the United
States. I choose this example because I've seen a factory in
China that probably made the toothbrush. Most of that $30 stays
in America, with CVS, the distributors, and Oral-B itself.
Eventually $3 or so--an average percentage for small consumer
goods--makes its way back to south