News Items
Some of these are old since I haven’t written for a while but here are some important stories and my comments
Walmart vs. Maryland or Walmart and health coverage
Why does government think they have an ability to determine how a corporation spends it profits? A state is forcing a company to spend more money on health care for its employees. Absurd. This must be rejected. If allowed this will not end. Right now the limitation is companies with more than 10,000 employees. Why? No reason. This is an arbitrary number because some person hates Walmart. Why only 7% or 8% of profits on health benefits? No reason. Because it doesn't sound outrageous. In a few years every state will require every company to spend 65% of its money on health insurance and benefits just like the federal does with its budget. Do you think someone will question the rationale then?
Coal miners and nuclear energy
Sad that people died. Why don't we have more nuke plants so we don't need so much coal and oil? Because people are afraid of things like stupid movies with Jane Fonda that show nuclear near misses. BTW America still has the best safety record for mining. Proof that we care about people more than money.
Chinese competition
Is Chinese our competetitor? They are winning in one area but we are catching up fast. That is the race to bad government and excessive bureaucracy. They had a huge head start with the Great Leap Forward but we have George Bush.
Regarding manufacturing: clarification is needed in debate because we may be losing jobs but we are not losing manufacturing. America produces more than ever but much is automated. Effeciency gains means less people are needed. That is a good thing. But people need jobs. Sure but that is not a reason to hold back on effeciency and productivity. I heard an example that illustrates the situation. America produces far more food now with less farmers (less than 1% of population?) in 2006 than we did in 1906 when 30 or 40% of people were involved in agriculture. Why? Automation. Did America crumble because of changes in farm equipment?
Muslims and cartoons
Religion of peace rioting over a cartoon. Get a sense a humor. Freedom of religion does not include rioting in my book. If they try that here they should be shot. Best commentary I heard was from Ann Coulter.
p.s. minimum wage laws hurt the poorest the mostest
2 years ago
More on the China Topic. Personally I worry about our country becoming economically dependant on a country who has a history of wanting to wipe us from the face of the earth. I find it creepy that China has so much vested interest in our debt- mortgage debt in particular. I realize that we have a mutual economic interest in one another and it's certainly not one sided- I would rather do business with a country
ReplyDeletewho I didn't feel would crush our economy in a moment given the opportunity. Something seems awry. Here is an article I found regarding the topic.
-Mel
INTERNATIONAL MONEY MART
Why is everyone so worried about China?
The reason, explains the University of Maryland's Morici, is because "we're getting their T-shirts -- and the money to buy their T-shirts."
China's growing exports to the United States are a major factor in the explosion of the nation's trade deficit, which could exceed $700 billion this year. At the same time, China is one of the largest foreign investors in U.S. Treasury securities, with its holdings of $244 billion, second only to Japan.
The Chinese buy American bonds -- and make other investments in the United States -- because they need to recycle the dollars they earn from their exports. China also has bought dollars to keep its own currency, the yuan, lower in value so its exports are more price competitive internationally. That gives the U.S. government more cash to spend, both domestically and abroad.
Such investment in the United States by foreign powers, however, also means that "U.S. financial vulnerability continues to grow," Lehman Brothers analysts John Shin and Ethan S. Harris say in a research report. Their concern is that American efforts to slow Chinese imports, perhaps by imposing quotas, could trigger retaliation from China.
If China stopped buying U.S. securities, or even started dumping them, it would send the dollar into a tailspin. That, in turn, would push interest rates up in America and make imports more expensive, fueling inflation.
A rapid rise in interest rates could also bring the housing and mortgage booms to a quick end, possibly tipping the U.S. economy into recession.
THE REBUTTAL: C. Fred Bergsten, a former U.S. Treasury official who heads the Institute for International Economics in Washington, D.C., notes that China said in July it would no longer peg the yuan strictly to the dollar but to a basket of currencies and allow its currency to rise gradually in value. That reduces the chance of a jarring turn away from the dollar, though China's purchase of dollar-denominated securities could slow.
Even without that announcement, Bergsten thinks it "would be crazy" for China to alienate the United States. The reason: China needs Americas as a major export market to fuel its own economic growth and to create jobs.
That doesn't mean the dollar is entirely safe. A burst in the housing bubble, a sharp drop in the stock market or a recession could prompt foreigners to cut back on U.S. investments, too. But Bergsten sees the odds of such a crash as low.
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There have, of course, been any number of doomsday predictions in the past that didn't come true. But a number have.
Many Americans are too young to remember that the Great Depression was the result of a bubble bursting when a panic in the market caused the crash of stocks, real estate and commodities that had been bought by speculators with borrowed money.
More recently, in the late 1990s, investors bid the stocks of technology companies so high -- even those without any profits -- that prices couldn't be sustained and the market crashed in 2000, triggering a national recession. The stock market still hasn't fully recovered.
A recent study by analysts at the Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. investment bank in New York says most bubbles share the same characteristics: A strong economy and a sense of prosperity leads to speculation which leads to price pressures and a rise in interest rates which can lead to the bubble bursting.
The analysts -- Francois Trahan, Kurt D. Walters and Caroline S. Portny -- believe that at least eight of the 10 characteristics of a bubble environment currently exist in America. But they are not surprised that few see it: "The idea that a financial disaster could occur at any moment is too far-fetched for individuals to imagine during times of such heightened exuberance."
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