Rapidly building currency crisis

In the U.S., the rapidly building currency crisis in the emerging markets is hardly noticed. Countries like Brazil, India and numerous others experienced huge capital inflows and attendant currency appreciation, as the U.S. Federal Reserve administered its multi-year massive stimulus programs. Now, as the Fed is talking about withdrawing some of its monetary support, the opposite is happening. The Real, Rupee and other emerging markets currencies are falling so precipitously that central banks are forced to sharply raise interest rates at a time of economic weakness. This has led to sharp complaints against Washington, but American policy makers refuse to engage. That position will backfire—before long, badly deteriorating economies in the emerging countries will seriously undermine earnings at America’s increasingly globalized companies, at which time far-away problems will turn into a major U.S. problem.