The economic ruse that is run by Communist China is growing bigger by the day. The formula behind what has been the Great Red Engine of global growth is really very simple: Print new money and funnel it through the state-owned banking system in order to entice businesses and individuals to incur a debilitating amount of non-productive debt.

Historically speaking, countries that have utilized this ersatz form of economics have suffered a currency and bond market crisis. But the command and control government of China always seems to be one step ahead of the laws of economics; and has been able to defer the inevitable day of reckoning due to its large currency reserves.

However, those reserves have dwindled as the nation was forced into selling its dollar-based assets and defend the value of the yuan. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has spent trillions of dollars over the past four years doing just that.

To aid in propping up the yuan, China has deployed a unique cocktail of regulations and market trickery. In addition to outright currency manipulation, trading bands and strict capital controls, China has now resorted to simply making up prices for its currency.

The China Foreign Exchange Trade System, which is managed by the PBOC, changed the way it values the country’s currency each morning and the way it is allowed to fluctuate through the day. The government currently sets a benchmark value for the yuan against a basket of currencies for which the yuan is then allowed to fluctuate in value by 2 percent during the day. You would assume the opening benchmark level would be based on the currency’s closing value the day before.

But the Chinese government contends that the market just isn’t getting it right. Therefore, they are introducing a “countercyclical variable”. The omniscient Chinese government will now determine the opening benchmark value of the currency. Because after all, the government of China is great at pretending it has a better view of supply and demand than millions of individuals voting with their wallets each day.