Op Ed: China's asking for a trade war

[lilpup]

From an Op Ed in today's NY Times:

If [China] sticks to its cheap-renminbi guns, however, it is bound to draw a protectionist response. The Obama administration already has caved to political demands and slapped exceptional tariffs on Chinese tires and antidumping duties on steel pipes. Congress has been uncharacteristically quiet, but patience is wearing thin in Washington and everywhere.

India has filed a stack of trade complaints against China. And the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum recently urged the adoption of “market-oriented exchange rates” for Asian currencies, a reference to China’s manipulation.

A trade war with China would be disastrous and bound to escalate around the world. Restraint is needed. But we fear no one is going to feel restrained if China doesn’t change its strategy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/op...2tue1.html?hpw

[Sstashmoo]

Bring it on..

[Jimaz]

Who wants their toxic crap anyway?

• Toxins found in kids' items made in China
• U.S. warns about cadmium

I thought we were over this. There hadn't been a story about China poisoning their customers in quite a while. I thought they had learned their lesson when they lost half their toy factories two years ago because parents didn't want them poisoning their children anymore.

Surely in this new "globalization" movement there must be a whole industry of consultants advising them how they should market their products in the United States successfully. Surely they've been advised that customers do not want their gluten and baby formula poisoned. Yet seemingly they just wait for the bad press to subside and then promptly resume their assault against us. They just don't give a damn. Or perhaps it's worse. Could it be that the State of China intends this as some bizarre new form of state-sponsored terrorism?

Check out their astonishingly horrid track record.

Cut them off already. They had their chance and failed.

[Jimaz]

Permit me to launch a precautionary preemptive strike:

China's internet 'spin doctors'

[lilpup]

Permit me to launch a precautionary preemptive strike:

China's internet 'spin doctors'

Some of their posts are pretty obvious, they're so laughable. They also encourage businesses operating abroad to ingratiate themselves locally, by joining Chamber of Commerce and other business and socail groups, while carrying out their undercutting of local domestic businesses.

[Sstashmoo]

They ticked off Google by their government allegedly hacking into the Google servers. Google has agreed to censor public access there, now they say no more, and may pull out of China lock stock and barrel. Severing relations, usually how "war" starts, loose analogy. China isn't going anywhere. There is still money here and they will suck this country dry.

[Jimaz]

I've just now compared two different brands of "sterile" gauze pads for wound dressings.

The packaging on both the cheaper CVS brand and the more expensive Johnson & Johnson brand contain the fine print "Made in China" [[sic). Only the Johnson & Johnson brand also states "STERILIZED IN U.S.A." conspicuously instead in capitalized letters.

Why do you suppose Johnson & Johnson would feel it advantageous to go out of their way to emphasize that the product has been "STERILIZED [[possibly resterilized) IN U.S.A."? Could it be that they're reacting to consumer skepticism of China's notoriously corrupt business ethics?

I have the receipt. I'll be returning this CVS brand tomorrow for a refund.

[lilpup]

Lovely...

China's Google Hack Shouldn't Surprise Anyone

[gibran]

while the articl eis interesting and truly something to think about ..the comment section underneath would have sent chills down CC's spine..the free market only works when there are enforceable rules and protections

[barnesfoto]

Subsidized Chinese Glass hurting US Glass Industry [[surprise!)

"Chinese glassmakers are competitive in the American marketplace only because they have received giant subsidies in recent years from the Chinese government. The subsidies offset, among other things, the high cost of shipping heavy glass — auto windshields, for example — across the Pacific.

“We definitely need to put tariffs on some of the glass coming from China,� said Tim Tuttle, chairman of the glass industry department of the United Steelworkers. Overall industry employment has declined 30 percent over the last nine years, to fewer than 95,000 workers, 15,000 of them unionized.

The Obama administration shies away from identifying specific industries, like tires, steel and now glass, for special protection from imports. “The president wants to help create the economic conditions such that broad new industries can evolve consistent with his priorities, particularly in the area of clean energy,� said Jared Bernstein, chief economist to the vice president.

That caution reflects the free trade thinking of many mainstream economists and trade experts. They contend that in a global economy that has minimized tariff barriers and subsidies, each country will concentrate — if not immediately, then over the long run — on the goods and services it is best at producing, and trade them for what other countries are best at producing, thus maximizing output across the globe.

The United Steelworkers endorses free trade, but insists that in the cases of tires, steel pipe and now glass, Chinese government subsidies have undercut the market forces on which free trade depends.

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/bu...bsidies&st=cse

[oladub]

Serious Materials is a manufacturer of windows. It buys a lot of glass, presumably US glass, and is hugely subsidized. So, while our government isn't subsidizing glass, as far as I know, it subsidizes a US window manufacturer. Would it be ok for China to subsidize their windows, like we do, if China would stop subsidizing glass?

The Obama Administration's Serious Conflict of Interest: A Freedom Foundation of MN Investigation

[barnesfoto]

if the Obama Admin is passing out subsidies to industry in the same manner that US Agribusiness is given subsidies, why would the Guardian Corp, of Carleton MI, not be in on the game? Or maybe the "Freedom Foundation of MN" is another crackpot pseudo-libertarian organization [[with the predictable fear porn shit on their website about illegal immigration that brother Oladub loves to roll in) that mixes reality with half truths and conspiracy theories, many of them repeated on Fox News [[R-Propaganda)

info here:
"The Freedom Foundation of Minnesota [[FFM) is making claims about an alleged conflict of interest between a high-ranking Obama Administration official and Serious Material's receipt of ARRA funds.

ARRA is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The U.S. DOE's office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy [[EERE) received $16.8 billion in ARRA funds to promote green power and conservation programs including a tax credit for homeowners who install energy-efficient windows. The Assistant Secretary of Energy, Cathy Zoi, is responsible for oversight in disbursing these stimulus funds.

The FFM notes that Ms. Zoi is married to Robin Roy, an executive at Serious Materials. The allegation looks serious but it's not. Before we straighten that out - who or what is the FFM?

The Freedom Foundation of Minnesota

According to their literature, "The Freedom Foundation of Minnesota...advocates the principles of individual freedom, personal responsibility, economic freedom, and limited government. Founded in 2006, we hope to create a better and more vibrant future for every Minnesotan by helping shape sound public policy." OK, everybody wants that.

In 2009 the foundation was a co-sponsor of the Heartland Institute's 2009 conference for climate change skeptics.

And it would appear the FFV has Fox Business' John Stossel on their side. Here's a video from Stossel and the FFM.

Pallin' around with the Heartland Institute and John Stossel puts you within teabagging distance of Beck, Taitz and Bachman [[R-Insane).

Serious Clears the Air - Note the Timeline

Kevin Surace, the CEO of Serious Materials, responded to these accusations in an email to your humble narrator. He straightens out the timeline and pretty much sets the record straight.

"We have nothing to hide." said the CEO. He continues in his email:

"Robin Roy had worked for us long before Cathy [Zoi] was offered that job. Her bi-partison hearings included full disclosure about Robin’s job. Fully transparent from day one, and all a matter of public record.

Though I have not visited Cathy, we have coordinated with the DOE for several years now, including my prior visits with Andy Karsner, John Misrock, and Paul Dickerson in the Bush administration. I personally knew and know them all. And should, as the DOE is involved in energy efficiency. This is why we often cite the DOE as important to all of us.

Most importantly, we opened the [Vandergrift] PA factory on March 16, 2009 and the President mentioned it March 27th, and Chicago was visited by the Vice President on April 27, 2009.

But Cathy was not confirmed by the Senate until June 19, 2009. [She was nominated in April].

So it seems that someone didn’t actually check the facts.":
source: http://www.greentechmedia.com/articl...-by-fox-et-al/

And here:

"In attempt to rationalize the slashing of state aid to Minnesota cities, the so-called “Freedom Foundation” has issued a report designed to discredit the city Local Government Aid [[LGA) program. The Foundation’s analysis is a mixture of distortions, selective presentation, and outright fallacies.

The errors commence in the first paragraph of the report. The Foundation refers to LGA as “a uniquely Minnesota form of direct aid paid to local units of government.” In fact, several other states have programs for directing general purpose aid to cities. Minnesota’s program is unique only insofar as it attempts to rigorously measure each city’s need for state-funded property tax relief.

More debunking of the "Minnesota Freedom Foundation" here:
http://www.mn2020hindsight.org/?p=2877

Back to the original subject:

More on the Chinese Government subsidizing their inferior products sold in the US here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...090902768.html

[lilpup]

Got an interesting email today - "You have received a Hallmark E-Card!"

Everything about it was Hallmark's - the frame, the supporting links, the link to send a card, etc., etc. EXCEPT the link to view the card supposedly sent to me. THAT link [["To see it, click here") is, according to a whois lookup, to a Chinese registered site...distributing an executable...hmmm...[[for the curious computer experts only - http - 58.223.251.79/card.exe )

[lilpup]

While looking around for more information about the Hallmark email I found a blog post about a similar email, again from Hallmark, but this time with the card link going back through Moscow instead of Beijing... [[blogpost: http://www.trendyink.net/blog/2009/0...k-ecard-email/ )

[Jimaz]

E-Card Fraud Alert regarding the Zapchast Trojan virus.

[East Detroit]

But Walmart has such great prices...

[maxx]

Don't forget the shrub's admin. put us in very deep debt to the Chinese to pay for the unnecessary waste of a war in Iraq. So the Chinese have some leverage against us should they want to use it.

[Papasito]

what can we seriously do against China?
we owe them trillions, and the government continues to borrow from them,
enslaving our free will to them even more and more with every new dollar of debt.