I cannot stand protectionism. Worse yet, I cannot stand politicians who have no clue about the economic consequences of their protectionist policies. I know the electoral effect seems to be more important when trying to confuse the populists even more than they already are. But would someone please tell Sen. Grassley (R-IA) to stop saying “Pussyfooting” every time he refers to Secretary Paulson’s handling of China’s currency.  Personally, I think Sec. Paulson is doing an excellent job and the Chinese government is doing as good of a job managing their currency as we are doing with ours.  Seems to me that we have had a strong dollar policy for years now and how’s that working for you?  A rapid decline in the dollar relative to the Japanese Yen was troubling in February and early March - remember that?  A rapid appreciation of the Yuan would devastate the American economy so if “Pussyfooting” is what it takes to avoid that mess, then Sec. Paulson - please pussyfoot all you can.