England as a Bargain Shopping Destination? Yup

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 7/31/2009 07:04:00 AM
"Don't you think the trousers are a bit too...narrow?" In retrospect, I posed the wrong question while trying on a suit to my skinny Hugo Boss salesman with a hairdo worn by Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes circa 1984 wearing a fashionable "slim fit" suit and matching two-inch-wide tie. As someone who thinks he has better things to do than read men's magazines, I was only dimly aware of the current trend for "slim fit" suits. Understandably, he shot me a skeptical look that suggested: "Whaddya want to look like, MC Hammer?" In the end, I bought the suit anyway, a nice-looking Rossellini Movie model for a bargain price of £300 that...
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Singapore's SWF Temasek Loses $40B; So What

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 7/30/2009 07:53:00 AM
Singapore is often regarded as a progressive Asian country in the Western sense. However, the continued dominance of its recognized founding father Lee Kuan Yew in national affairs is strongly felt, planting seeds of doubt among those following Asian politics. His son, Lee Hsien Loong, is the country's current prime minister. In turn, Lee Hsien Loong's wife, Ho Ching, manages one of the country's sovereign wealth funds, Temasek.The political intrigue in today's story goes like this: Earlier this year, Ho Ching declared that she would step down as boss of Temasek after five years at the helm. Many attributed this decision to...
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UNCTAD Ponders Trade, Dev't & Migration Links

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,,, at 7/29/2009 12:41:00 PM
Any discussion of migration boils down to the question of what constitutes development. That is, can sending folks away really be considered as development when the common frame of understanding is Smithian in discussing the wealth of nations? To no one's real surprise, the answer for me is a firm "yes." Especially now when dependence on exporting products to the West is a nearly surefire recipe for misery creation, alternative ways of promoting the well-being of those from LDCs--which is closer to my idea of development--come into play which involve the movement of persons.Helpfully, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has just put out a recent guide to help us understand the processes that can help maximize benefits from LDC migration. What follows is from the concluding section on "Ways Forward" though the rest of this short publication is well worth reading. I particularly like the section discussing the continuing importance of migration during the global...
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"China Currency Coalition" Obama Sucks Up to PRC

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 7/28/2009 04:49:00 PM
Here we go again. The Bush-era Strategic Economic Dialogue has since morphed into the Obama-era Strategic and Economic Dialogue. Whether there's any substantive difference I really can't tell, apart from more token references to climate change and human rights. The important observation from my point of view is that Campaigner Obama spewed all sorts of organized labor-friendly protectionist rhetoric. Let us recall some highlights from his remarks to the American Chamber of Commerce in China circa September 2008:Central to any rebalancing of our economic relationship with China must be change in its currency practices. Because it pegs its currency at an artificially low rate, China is running massive current account surpluses. This is not good for American firms and workers, not good for the world, and ultimately likely to produce inflation problems in China itself.As President, I will use all the diplomatic avenues available to seek a change in China’s currency practices. I will...
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Literally Dying for Privatization in China

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 7/26/2009 04:14:00 PM
The transition from mostly state-owned industries to private enterprises is always fraught with difficulty. Add exceptionally difficult times in China's transition to a semblance of a market economy with callous handling of the situation and you get this incident reported by the Financial Times. While the rationale for rationalizing SOEs is sharpened during these these periods, you cannot expect workers to respond too positively:The privatisation of a state steel company has been scrapped after an executive was beaten to death by workers angry at the threat to their jobs from a takeover of their firm, according to a Hong Kong rights group. The violent riot in north-east China late last week involved up to 30,000 workers, a reminder of the ongoing sensitivity about lay-offs from state firms in industries targeted for consolidation...Tonghua Iron & Steel, a traditional state enterprise, has about 50,000 workers and has struggled to make consistent profits in recent years, making...
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Un-PC Thoughts On Stewardesses & Unionization

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 7/24/2009 08:53:00 PM
"THWACK!!!" The lovely Cathay Pacific stewardess had just slapped my hand while I was reaching for a roll in the bread basket on board a flight from the Far East to London, leaving me whimpering in mock pain. As anyone who's been to the Pacific Rim knows, folks from Hong Kong are ultra paranoid about swine flu given their previous experience with bird flu. Hence, it was no surprise to me that throngs of Chinese travelers at Hong Kong's Chep Lap Kok airport had surgical masks on. Sharing their finicky disposition, the Cathay Pacific stewardess served our meals with gloves on and insisted on delivering bread rolls with tongs.My...
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Your Latest China Reserve Diversification Story

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 7/21/2009 09:18:00 PM
The PRC meets a very skeptical audience when it keeps saying that it will diversify away from holding US Treasuries but doesn't appear to do so--or at least not yet. This latest round of bellyaching by Premier Wen Jiabao makes it appear as if the PRC will make strategic investments instead of fattening official holdings of increasingly dubious value. The general logic behind holding equity stakes--should they indeed come to pass (and I have my doubts)--was explained by Nouriel Roubini a long time ago in light of US protectionism over an Emerati company operating US ports and China's state-owned enterprise CNOOC attempting to acquire Unocal:But, increasingly, foreigners are starting to realize that exchanging their goods and services for lousy low-return IOUs of the US government is a most lousy deal for them. Why to hold Treasuries that give you a mediocre 4.5% return over 30 years when you can instead buy higher return capital such as US corporation, US factories, ports, real...
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"Death to Nokia Phones!" An Iranian Rallying Cry?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 7/19/2009 06:37:00 PM
The late Ayatollah Khomeini became famous for his pronouncements about the US being the "Great Satan" while his supporters chanted that now world-famous line about "Death to America!" Regardless of your opinion of him, you can't deny that the Grand Ayatollah was a great polemicist. (Nowadays, of course, we know that the Ayatollah needn't have bothered as the Yanks are bleeding themselves to death financially along with any claim to greatness, but that's another story.) In an interesting turnaround, the current protest movement fomenting over the alleged manipulation of the recent Iranian elections resulting in the re-election...
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Euroskepticism v. Reality: Iceland Approaches EU

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 7/18/2009 01:03:00 PM
I like to think of Euroskeptics as modern-day descendants of Captain Caveman but minus the Teen Angels due to their generally surly attitude towards European integration. That Euroskeptics are often race-baiters only reinforces my belief. These econo-Luddites think going it alone is preferable to attaining membership in an organization that, despite its flaws, offers several tangible advantages. First and foremost in our day and age is the right to use euro currency. Financially incontinent PIGS--Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain--have so far managed to keep afloat by anchoring to the Bundesbank's ultimate self-sacrifice:...
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Russia's Tragicomic WTO Bid Turns Solo Again

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 7/16/2009 10:34:00 AM
Ho-hum, here we go again. The usual tagline while discussing Russia joining the WTO is that it is the largest economy still outside the organization's membership. I have made several posts on this topic, the last being on EU asking for Russia to join the organization prior to pursuing more detailed bilateral discussions. A few weeks ago, the Russian authorities threw a spanner in the works by saying that it would apply for membership together with Belarus and Kazakhstan as a customs union. This bid was so wacky that I failed to report on it. For starters, (1) there isn't even an existing customs union / league of dictators...
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US Barges In on China Holding Oz Mining Execs

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 7/16/2009 07:41:00 AM
I am of two minds about this. The United States has long enjoyed playing the role of globocop in world affairs. Despite its fast-shrinking economy and concomitant decline in global influence as a model to be emulated, the US largely thinks it can play the role it did before. A few days ago, I mentioned the case of Rio Tinto mining executives being detained by Chinese officials on suspicious "national security" grounds. It is of course more illuminating that negotiations of Chinese state-owned steel mills with Australian providers of iron ore have come to naught despite protracted negotiations.Into this picture enters Uncle Sam. Fearful of China jailing its own executives (and Chinese executives working for them), the US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke is set to discuss this matter with his Chinese counterparts. Remember, too, that Gary Locke became America's first Chinese-American governor in Washington state not so long ago. Then again, Aussie PM Kevin Rudd is a fluent Mandarin...
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Will Idiotic US Laws Make Asia Poker's Epicenter?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 7/13/2009 06:15:00 AM
The United States, that erstwhile promoter of free trade, has long been criticized by the international community for its senseless and unwarranted clampdown on Internet gaming on specious "moral" grounds. In its Jerry Falwell-esque crusade to protect the public interest, it has applied significant hurt to small trading partners hosting Internet gambling sites like Antigua and Barbuda (for a brief history of this quarrel, see a previous post). To make a long story short, the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) has not been found to pass muster in WTO ruling after WTO ruling. This leaves the US vulnerable to countries...
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Belgian Misadventures of the British National Party

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 7/12/2009 08:34:00 AM
You can argue that British politics is most accurately arranged on a dimension of xenophobia given its increasing lack of distinguishing features. There is only one party, the pro-Europe and pro-migration Liberal Democrats, who do not resort to the cheap but oftentimes useful "everything was fine here until you foreigners and colored people showed up" political strategy. At the extreme end is the British National Party (BNP), an ultra-right wing outfit similar to others elsewhere in Europe. Somewhat less militant but nonetheless sharing the BNP's euroskeptic and xenophobic outlook is the UK Independence Party. Meanwhile, the...
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PRC v. Oz: China Detains Rio Tinto Mining Execs

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 7/10/2009 11:05:00 AM
Think of Australia and China as star-crossed lovers. The former needs to find developing market customers as demand for its commodity exports fall in the developing world. Meanwhile, the latter needs coal, steel, and other minerals to power its mighty manufacturing-for-export machine. As in many things IPE, frictions arise. Australians are wary of those dratted foreigners acquiring controlling stakes in major Aussie mining concerns. For instance, see China's efforts to head off a proposed Rio Tinto-BHP Billiton deal that would have combined Australia's largest mining concerns in fear of the resulting combination exercising...
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Jeepers, is the WTO Really This Irrelevant?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 7/10/2009 09:05:00 AM
I was surprised to find that no one in the blogosphere has linked to this 6 July Pascal Lamy op-ed in the Wall Street Journal--surely no obscure publication--concerning aid for trade. Recently, the WTO held another gathering concerning this ongoing program of trade facilitation: aid in the form of giving LDCs help with how to trade. Here's a quote from Lamy that describes aid for trade's essence:One key component of this is the creation of adequate physical infrastructure -- roads, ports, telecommunications, electricity supply, storage facilities -- to ensure the consistent and reliable flow of goods, services and information that underpin global trade. Another is to ensure that producers are trained in meeting global product quality and safety standards [sanitary and phytosanitary measures to you trade enthusiasts] demanded by the world's consumers. Improving physical and human capacity will further assist countries in diversifying their production and reaching new markets.There's...
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Tyson: US Needs More Stimulus; Current One Tiny

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 7/07/2009 01:42:00 PM
I was watching Bloomberg TV--financial news for sane people--when the normally sane and competent Laura Tyson (at least during the Clinton years) started spouting Obamanite "deficits still don't matter"-style rhetoric:The U.S. should consider drafting a second stimulus package focusing on infrastructure projects because the $787 billion approved in February was “a bit too small,” said Laura Tyson, an adviser to President Barack Obama.The current plan “will have a positive effect, but the real economy is a sicker patient,” Tyson said in a speech in Singapore today. The package will have a more pronounced impact in the third and fourth quarters, she added, stressing that she was speaking for herself and not the administration.Tyson’s comments contrast with remarks made two days ago by Vice President Joe Biden and fellow Obama adviser Austan Goolsbee, who said it was premature to discuss crafting another stimulus because the current measures have yet to fully take effect. The government...
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