September 19, 2008
At 100 GM Turns Chinese
General Motors (GM) celebrated its 100th birthday today 100 floors above Shanghai announcing the groundbreaking of its quarter billion dollar R&D and Asia-Pacific headquarters Shanghai facility and that GM's long anticipated electric vehicle the Chevy Volt will go on sale in China by 2011.
Labels: automobiles, chevy volt, china, electric cars, gm, trade
January 08, 2008
Neo-Cons Call For China Export Halt
One of the few bright spots in the overall American economy over the past few years has been the meteoric rise of exports to China. A fast-track process that allows Chinese high-tech importers to be pre-screened and thus avoid lengthy (and usually political) license procedures is under fire from a conservative group called "Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control." These are the same geniuses behind "Iraq Watch" and "Iran Watch" handwringers over non-American weapons of mass destruction so far proved very wrong.
The Wisconsin Project is largely funded by the conservative Smith Richardson Foundation which bankrolls frequent China threatmonger, the American Enterprise Institute, and features neo-con visionaries such as Samuel Huntington on its board of directors.
The group claims the Chinese companies in question are controlled by the Chinese government but the companies are in fact linked by ownership to Boeing and the Chinese state conglomerate AVIC I which rumour says may go public. The assertion betrays an embarrassing ignorance of Chinese corporate and business structure and a simplistic nation-state viewpoint. Will they succeed in derailing an import trade that positively impacts America's balance with China? Under the current government probably not. If a China scare monger liberal Democratic politician such as Barack Obama or John Edwards or right-wing China basher such as Duncan Hunter wins the Presidency anything is possible.
The Wisconsin Project is largely funded by the conservative Smith Richardson Foundation which bankrolls frequent China threatmonger, the American Enterprise Institute, and features neo-con visionaries such as Samuel Huntington on its board of directors.
The group claims the Chinese companies in question are controlled by the Chinese government but the companies are in fact linked by ownership to Boeing and the Chinese state conglomerate AVIC I which rumour says may go public. The assertion betrays an embarrassing ignorance of Chinese corporate and business structure and a simplistic nation-state viewpoint. Will they succeed in derailing an import trade that positively impacts America's balance with China? Under the current government probably not. If a China scare monger liberal Democratic politician such as Barack Obama or John Edwards or right-wing China basher such as Duncan Hunter wins the Presidency anything is possible.
Labels: china, high-tech, neo, neocon, trade, wisconsin project
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
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
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