Friday Rant.

Let’s lead off with this ...

BEIJING, March 12 (Reuters) - The United States should not make a political issue out of the yuan, a Chinese central banker said on Friday, as the two countries lurched towards a potential bust-up over Beijing's currency regime.

The latest rhetorical salvoes underlined how long-running friction caused by the yuan's de facto dollar peg could come to a head next month when U.S. President Barack Obama's administration decides whether to brand China as a "currency manipulator".