August 17, 2007
Sloppy Journos Double Standards
The news is filled today with alarmist reports describing the war games of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s long planned “Peace Mission 2007” as a sign of a new cold war. But where were the AP and British tabloids during the much larger and ecologically damaging “Talisman Sabre” mock invasion put on by the US and Australian militaries? See my March blog post on both these military manoeuvres here.
The New York Times prints third hand accounts of a highway bridge collapse in remote China rather than investigate the highway bridge disaster in America’s sixteenth largest metropolis, Minneapolis- St. Paul. The same paper is quick to jump on any mine disaster in China’s mining industry but doesn’t examine the lax standards behind the coal mine catastrophe in Price, Utah, until shamed into investigating the unfolding story by TV personality Arianna Huffington.
Every news outlet this week has assaulted our ears and eyes with fear-mongering coverage about poisoned Chinese imports ranging from toothpaste to frozen fish to the very toys under our children’s beds. Yet where is the hysteria and dire warnings about the lead in candy from Mexico that has sickened America’s kids as far back as 2001?
The New York Times prints third hand accounts of a highway bridge collapse in remote China rather than investigate the highway bridge disaster in America’s sixteenth largest metropolis, Minneapolis- St. Paul. The same paper is quick to jump on any mine disaster in China’s mining industry but doesn’t examine the lax standards behind the coal mine catastrophe in Price, Utah, until shamed into investigating the unfolding story by TV personality Arianna Huffington.
Every news outlet this week has assaulted our ears and eyes with fear-mongering coverage about poisoned Chinese imports ranging from toothpaste to frozen fish to the very toys under our children’s beds. Yet where is the hysteria and dire warnings about the lead in candy from Mexico that has sickened America’s kids as far back as 2001?
August 14, 2007
Chinese Toy Boycott
Imports of Chinese goods are expected to be up by $3.5 billion and total $63.5 billion for the second quarter. That puts 2007 on pace for another record size US trade deficit with China.
Stymied by an inability to control China trade relations Washington is resorting to a more blunt method – de facto boycotts.
The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) announced today that it had coerced Mattel, Inc., to recall millions of Chinese made toys including famous American brand Barbie. The recall is “intentionally large” CPSC Chairman Nancy Nord said while admitting that no one has been injured or harmed by any of the toys recalled.
The action of the CPSC plays on the fears of mothers everywhere and whether intentional or not fuels press coverage intent on demonizing China for all of the world’s ills.
The CPSC action is direct “Nanny State” intervention into markets and the economy.
Mattel's factories and workers may be in China but they were built and are paid by US dollars - direct foreign investment from Mattel and other companies. By building factories and relocating jobs to China corporations such as Mattel get increased profit margins and by contracting out production and other services they get to skirt regulations in the USA.
But the de facto boycott of Chinese toys leaves Mattel with little recourse to stem its losses and impact on its stock price, already falling today. Mattel is essentially a pawn in a spat between Washington and Beijing. It’s akin to a nasty separation where one spouse punishes the children to get back at the other. Is this a sign of more ugliness to come? We’ll see when the Chinese autos come ashore in big numbers.
Stymied by an inability to control China trade relations Washington is resorting to a more blunt method – de facto boycotts.
The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) announced today that it had coerced Mattel, Inc., to recall millions of Chinese made toys including famous American brand Barbie. The recall is “intentionally large” CPSC Chairman Nancy Nord said while admitting that no one has been injured or harmed by any of the toys recalled.
The action of the CPSC plays on the fears of mothers everywhere and whether intentional or not fuels press coverage intent on demonizing China for all of the world’s ills.
The CPSC action is direct “Nanny State” intervention into markets and the economy.
Mattel's factories and workers may be in China but they were built and are paid by US dollars - direct foreign investment from Mattel and other companies. By building factories and relocating jobs to China corporations such as Mattel get increased profit margins and by contracting out production and other services they get to skirt regulations in the USA.
But the de facto boycott of Chinese toys leaves Mattel with little recourse to stem its losses and impact on its stock price, already falling today. Mattel is essentially a pawn in a spat between Washington and Beijing. It’s akin to a nasty separation where one spouse punishes the children to get back at the other. Is this a sign of more ugliness to come? We’ll see when the Chinese autos come ashore in big numbers.
Labels: barbie, boycott, china, mattel, toys
August 01, 2007
Economists Against Congress Anti-China Trade Legislation
The Club for Growth, a conservative political action committee led by former Pennsylvania Congressman Pat Toomey, has sent a petition to Congress signed by 1,028 economists including former government officials, Nobel Prize winners, and a bevy of professors, urging Congress to rethink "protectionist policies against China."
Pat Toomey's editorial in today's Wall Street Journal is also an excellent summation of just how wrong-headed the work of Senators Max Baucus (D-Montana), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) is.
See my previous posts on this issue for more.
Pat Toomey's editorial in today's Wall Street Journal is also an excellent summation of just how wrong-headed the work of Senators Max Baucus (D-Montana), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) is.
See my previous posts on this issue for more.
Labels: anti, baucus, china, club for growth, congress, currency, graham, schumer, trade
July 27, 2007
Save Darfur…From Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow is back from her latest holiday in Sudan (one wonders if she shells out for these excursions or if the UN picks up the tab?) and the Bancroft family gave her a few inches in the Wall Street Journal (once again) in a (final?) display of their anti-China editorial stance.
Mia now claims to speak for the people of Darfur and – expanding her ambitions -- Eastern Chad saying that they urgently need an “international force with the resources and mandate necessary to protect defenseless civilians.”
So it appears Mia’s solution is to bring UN “Peacekeepers" into the region. And we all know what a great job they did in Bosnia and East Timor, right? I wonder what Mia’s reaction would be if she found out that some of those peacekeepers could come from UN Security Council member China?
How much of the $31 million or so raised last year for "Save Darfur" ever ended up in Sudan? Ruth Messinger, Director of the coalition, admitted to a group of Ivy League students that the intent of the movement was just to get young people to connect and embrace humanitarianism. Messinger's main gig, American Jewish World Service, is known to raise money only to funnel it into lobbying efforts for Israel.
It's all well and good for Mia Farrow to be appalled at the suffering in Sudan but why not put her money where her mouth is? Why not open up her country estate in Connecticut to some refugees? How about a little direct action from the hand-wringers for Darfur other than just a deduction for next year’s taxes?
Or is it all just about adding a "Save Darfur" sticker on the SUV next to the old "Free Tibet" one thus showing all the other drivers your moral righteousness?
Mia now claims to speak for the people of Darfur and – expanding her ambitions -- Eastern Chad saying that they urgently need an “international force with the resources and mandate necessary to protect defenseless civilians.”
So it appears Mia’s solution is to bring UN “Peacekeepers" into the region. And we all know what a great job they did in Bosnia and East Timor, right? I wonder what Mia’s reaction would be if she found out that some of those peacekeepers could come from UN Security Council member China?
How much of the $31 million or so raised last year for "Save Darfur" ever ended up in Sudan? Ruth Messinger, Director of the coalition, admitted to a group of Ivy League students that the intent of the movement was just to get young people to connect and embrace humanitarianism. Messinger's main gig, American Jewish World Service, is known to raise money only to funnel it into lobbying efforts for Israel.
It's all well and good for Mia Farrow to be appalled at the suffering in Sudan but why not put her money where her mouth is? Why not open up her country estate in Connecticut to some refugees? How about a little direct action from the hand-wringers for Darfur other than just a deduction for next year’s taxes?
Or is it all just about adding a "Save Darfur" sticker on the SUV next to the old "Free Tibet" one thus showing all the other drivers your moral righteousness?
Labels: china, darfur, free tibet, mia farrow, save darfur, sudan, un
July 26, 2007
USA, France Give China Nuclear Deals
While doing everything in its power to prevent Russia’s Atomstroyexport company from completing a power plant in Iran, American and French companies will give China complete transfers of nuclear technology in two giant business deals.
Add Westinghouse to the list of American brands cutting ribbons in Beijing. This week Westinghouse (owned by Toshiba of Japan and Shaw Group, a Louisiana corporation) signed a deal with China’s State Nuclear Power Technology Corp., to build four nuclear reactors with the promise of more in the future.
The multi-billion dollar arrangement involves Westinghouse and several Chinese companies including Sanmen Nuclear Power Co., a unit of China National Nuclear Corp., and Shandong Nuclear Power Co., a unit of China Power Investment Corp. China Power Investment Corp. trades on the Hong Kong stock exchange and its shares were up over 5% July 25 when the deal was announced.
The four reactors will be built in pairs at Sanmen city in coastal Zhejiang Province and at Haiyang on the coast of Shandong in northeastern China starting in 2009 and become operational by 2013 to 2015. The power plants will include the transfer of all technology. Westinghouse could get $9 billion worth of business from the deal. According the company it represents 5,000 jobs in the USA and in particular sustained business for Westinghouse’s fuel assembly operations, one of the main employers in the capital city of South Carolina.
China currently has 11 nuclear power plants operating built by native technology and earlier deals with Russia, France, and the USA. There are plans to build up to 30 more nuclear plants in the next 20 years as the Chinese government tries to balance its big energy needs with dangerous pollution levels.
Not to be outdone, France’s state-owned Areva Group, the world’s largest maker of nuclear reactors, announced today that talks to buld two nuclear plants in China will conclude in a few months. The contract will be with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp., and could be worth up to $8 billion. Areva will provide and transfer third generation EPR pressurized water reactors.
Add Westinghouse to the list of American brands cutting ribbons in Beijing. This week Westinghouse (owned by Toshiba of Japan and Shaw Group, a Louisiana corporation) signed a deal with China’s State Nuclear Power Technology Corp., to build four nuclear reactors with the promise of more in the future.
The multi-billion dollar arrangement involves Westinghouse and several Chinese companies including Sanmen Nuclear Power Co., a unit of China National Nuclear Corp., and Shandong Nuclear Power Co., a unit of China Power Investment Corp. China Power Investment Corp. trades on the Hong Kong stock exchange and its shares were up over 5% July 25 when the deal was announced.
The four reactors will be built in pairs at Sanmen city in coastal Zhejiang Province and at Haiyang on the coast of Shandong in northeastern China starting in 2009 and become operational by 2013 to 2015. The power plants will include the transfer of all technology. Westinghouse could get $9 billion worth of business from the deal. According the company it represents 5,000 jobs in the USA and in particular sustained business for Westinghouse’s fuel assembly operations, one of the main employers in the capital city of South Carolina.
China currently has 11 nuclear power plants operating built by native technology and earlier deals with Russia, France, and the USA. There are plans to build up to 30 more nuclear plants in the next 20 years as the Chinese government tries to balance its big energy needs with dangerous pollution levels.
Not to be outdone, France’s state-owned Areva Group, the world’s largest maker of nuclear reactors, announced today that talks to buld two nuclear plants in China will conclude in a few months. The contract will be with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp., and could be worth up to $8 billion. Areva will provide and transfer third generation EPR pressurized water reactors.
Labels: china, france, iran, nuclear, russia, usa
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