May 10, 2007
Trade Winds or War?
The blame China crowd in the USA Congress has new strength now under Democratic Party leadership and a protectionist backlash against Chinese imports may be coming. At least that is the view of the oft-quoted Chief Economist for Morgan Stanley, Stephen Roach.
Sinomania! has been warning for years that if certain special interests and pandering politicians get their way, the siren call at the shopping mall will be "attention [insert major retailer here] shoppers -- all items at thrice the price!"
Rather than address the catastrophe that is the American educational system, the massive financial burden on businesses to pay for employee's health care needs (in the absence of a national health care system), along with all the other ills that plague America's economy, Congress prefers to find blame in the murky world of "foreign trade."
As Roach nices sums up: " Absolutely nothing is gained on either front by blaming China for problems such as these that originate at home. To the contrary, much could be lost – in the US, the global economy, and world financial markets – if Congress makes a major blunder on US trade policy. "
If this concerns you at all, watch the following politicians closely: in the Senate, Max Baucus, Charles Schumer, Lindsey Graham; in the House: just about any representative with manufacturing jobs and labor unions in his/her district.
Sinomania! has been warning for years that if certain special interests and pandering politicians get their way, the siren call at the shopping mall will be "attention [insert major retailer here] shoppers -- all items at thrice the price!"
Rather than address the catastrophe that is the American educational system, the massive financial burden on businesses to pay for employee's health care needs (in the absence of a national health care system), along with all the other ills that plague America's economy, Congress prefers to find blame in the murky world of "foreign trade."
As Roach nices sums up: " Absolutely nothing is gained on either front by blaming China for problems such as these that originate at home. To the contrary, much could be lost – in the US, the global economy, and world financial markets – if Congress makes a major blunder on US trade policy. "
If this concerns you at all, watch the following politicians closely: in the Senate, Max Baucus, Charles Schumer, Lindsey Graham; in the House: just about any representative with manufacturing jobs and labor unions in his/her district.
Labels: china, deficit, imports, inflation, trade, war
April 19, 2007
Fighting Chinese Piracy
Courtesy The Onion and simply too true not to cross-link.
Key aspects of this latest China trade row:
"Giving tax breaks to entertainment industry for making shittier products that are even less worth stealing"
and
"Tracking all citizens, thereby creating a draconian hellscape to protect Resident Evil: Extinction from profitless consumption"
Read the whole thing!
Key aspects of this latest China trade row:
"Giving tax breaks to entertainment industry for making shittier products that are even less worth stealing"
and
"Tracking all citizens, thereby creating a draconian hellscape to protect Resident Evil: Extinction from profitless consumption"
Read the whole thing!
April 17, 2007
When In Doubt, Blame China
Sometime around midnight today the "Asian male in his mid twenties" that went on a killilng spree at Virginia Tech university and ended up shooting his own face off became a Chinese national recently in the United States on a student visa issued in Shanghai. Michael Sneed, a gossip columnist for Chicago's other newspaper, reported that a "source" said investigators were focusing on a Chinese man just arrived in San Francisco as the crazed gunman a continent away in Virginia.
The completely unsubstantiated smear was immediately picked up by Matt Drudge's Drudge Report website around 12:30 a.m. without credit as though it was one of Drudge's "developing" scoops. Only later this morning when it was revealed that the shooter was actually a South Korean born American resident was the smear story dropped.
Fact is Cho Seung Hui came to America when he was eight years old, grew up in lily-white Fairfax County Virginia and graduated from public high school there.
Why is the location of his birth of any consequence? And if his identity had never been traced (extremely unlikely given the sophistication of forensic analysis today) what purpose would it serve to blame a Chinese immigrant for the crime?
America's doors were closed to China from 1888 until after the second World War in one of the most shameful displays of xenophobia in United States history. Are we so afraid of competition from China that certain "sources" want the door closed again?
The completely unsubstantiated smear was immediately picked up by Matt Drudge's Drudge Report website around 12:30 a.m. without credit as though it was one of Drudge's "developing" scoops. Only later this morning when it was revealed that the shooter was actually a South Korean born American resident was the smear story dropped.
Fact is Cho Seung Hui came to America when he was eight years old, grew up in lily-white Fairfax County Virginia and graduated from public high school there.
Why is the location of his birth of any consequence? And if his identity had never been traced (extremely unlikely given the sophistication of forensic analysis today) what purpose would it serve to blame a Chinese immigrant for the crime?
America's doors were closed to China from 1888 until after the second World War in one of the most shameful displays of xenophobia in United States history. Are we so afraid of competition from China that certain "sources" want the door closed again?
Labels: ch seung hui, china, drudge, smear, sneed, virginia tech
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