Bad, Bad China, Says The WTO. Who Cares, Says China

Bad, Bad China, Says The WTO. Who Cares, Says China | The Truth About Cars:

"China has a 60 percent local content law for cars. If local content falls below that mark, the car is treated as an import, even if it’s Made in China. That means a 25 percent duty.

“Unfair!” said the US, EU and Canada, and filed a complaint with the WTO in March 2006. In July, the WTO ruled that China is wrong. China appealed. The WTO now rejected the appeal, and China has to come into compliance. “WTO’s final ruling marks the first time the country has lost a legal trade dispute since joining the global trade body in 2001,” China Daily regrets.

However, the Chinese parts industry’s fear of a flood of cheap imports from the EU and NA is unwarranted, China Daily says: “Analysts say that the effect on the domestic auto industry would be minimal since many multinationals would still prefer using local car parts to imported ones even if the Chinese government lowers the tariff over some auto parts.” According to a report by China Galaxy Securities, most multinational carmakers have already started making more car parts in China to cut costs. Honda and Volkswagen, for instance, make over 80 percent of their components in China. And China doesn’t have to change tomorrow: “China now has a reasonable period of time"

Could the Economic bust in the US be a good thing in the long run?

Here's the scenario: the US has been flush with cheap goods ever since industrialists discovered they could make and transport goods cheaper from halfway around the world than they could by making them where they will be consumed, paying the local workers a decent wage. That decent wage also creates more consumers for their goods.

The Chinese are now finding that their goods can't be sold at any price, because consumers just aren't buying anything, and manufacturers are closing shop and moving out of china.

The future could be (and this is a big "if," assuming logic exists in board rooms), that Western labor unions will either die the horribly wretched death they deserve, or that they will agree to reasonable terms. This will make the Western manufacturers look again at making goods where they are sold, eliminating transport costs, and again, creating the consumers they desperately need.

Nah, it'll never happen, because it makes sense.

Bloom Off The Rose For Chinese Car Industry | The Truth About Cars: "The good new times are over in China. According to reports published by J.D. Power, the increase in auto sales has slowed down to 6.7 percent this year, as opposed to 22 percent in 2007 and 26 percent in 2006. An analyst at the usually well-informed Nomura bank in Japan sees China’s auto sales growth slowing to 3.8 percent next year, and 6.4 percent in 2010."

Wal-Mart removes brand of eggs from China stores - USATODAY.com

This melamine is everywhere in China's food supply. So much so, that I hear the PRC is going to come up with a new recipe: General Tso's Melamine.

Wal-Mart removes brand of eggs from China stores - USATODAY.com:

BEIJING (AP) — Wal-Mart said Tuesday it had stopped selling a brand of eggs in its Chinese stores after food safety regulators in Hong Kong found excessive levels of the industrial chemical melamine in eggs sold under the brand.

The world's largest retailer said it has removed a brand of eggs produced by China's Dalian Hanwei Enterprise Group from all of its stores in China."

Report: FDA inspections of foreign plants lacking - USATODAY.com

Report: FDA inspections of foreign plants lacking - USATODAY.com:
"Although the FDA will soon be placing inspectors in China and India, 'given the growth in foreign drug manufacturing for the U.S. market, and the large gaps in FDA's foreign drug inspection program, significant challenges remain,' the Government Accountability Office said in its report.

The report 'confirms that the system deployed by FDA to police (foreign) facilities and keep Americans safe from poorly manufactured drugs is understaffed, overwhelmed and completely inadequate,' said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich."

Why the Dems Want the Economy to Fail

I won't belabor the point about Wall Street face-planting after the US Congress fails to do anything about the 2008 banking and economic crisis. But take note of this:

Surprise! This is an election year. The Democrats are holding nothing back in order to win the presidency. They have no doubt seen the polls indicating that democrat Barack Obama's poll numbers have increased precipitously since the start of the crisis. Given that Obama's numbers have shot up in inverse proportion to the Dow Jones Industrial Average going down, why would the Democrats want to end the crisis?

The US stock market lost 777 points yesterday, translating to 1.1 TRILLION dollars of lost value. That's about 1.5 times the cost of the $700 billion bailout. If you think that doesn't affect you, have a look at your retirement portfolio; if you have a 401K, you lost a lot of money. Common sense would tell anyone with the slightest twinge of statesmanship that the crisis must be ended. But in an election year, all bets are off.

What other reason can be offered for Rep. Nancy Pelosi to go on a name-calling spree, including saying that against her Republican opponents were "unpatriotic," right before a critical vote on the measure? Common sense would say that action would cause the vote to fail. Ironically, she was in the midst of a speech congratulating the House of Reps on it's "bipartisan" efforts, when she went off-message and condemned Pres. George Bush and Republicans for causing the crisis in the first place (not true; they all caused it, as far back as 1999).

Barney Frank, head of the banking committee, did much the same, but he couldn't even corral all of his dem party members in the committee to vote for the measure; 12 democrats on the banking committee voted against the bill. Had they voted yes, the bill would have passed.

The longer this crisis lasts, the more stock value is lost, the harder it is for credit to be issued, and the greater the risk of an outright depression. The US monetary system is locked up, and all the democratic leadership in congress can do is call names. Positively incredible.

What will the dems do to win an election? I think it's time that all of them - both parties - are given their walking papers. Vote out all incumbents. It's the patriotic thing. Assuming we're all still capable of voting in the breadline.


ABC News: Stocks Have Miserable Day After House Vote:

"The day started with silence -- the iconic opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange failed to sound -- and things just got worse from there, ending in the single biggest one-day point loss in history.
Congress votes down economic relief package prompting investors to sell.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 777.68 to close at 10,365.45. The previous biggest point drop came on Sept. 17, 2001, the first day the market reopened after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

A jittery stock market spent all morning in negative territory as investors worried about the $700 billion bailout package before Congress today. By 1:40 p.m. it became clear that the House was not going to pass the bill, and stocks went into a freefall; the Dow fell 400 points in 10 minutes before eventually dropping 700 points below Friday's close.

The Nasdaq and S&P 500 also posted massive losses, down 9.1 percent and 8.8 percent respectively."

Cadbury: Melamine Found in Chinese-Made Chocolates - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News

FOXNews.com - Cadbury: Melamine Found in Chinese-Made Chocolates - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News:

"HONG KONG — British candy maker Cadbury said Monday it is recalling 11 types of Chinese-made chocolates after tests found they contained the industrial chemical melamine.

A Cadbury spokesman said it was too early to say how much of the chemical was in the chocolates.

'These are preliminary findings from tests. And it's too early to say where the source was or the extent of it,' the spokesman told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

He declined to be named because of company policy.

Cadbury said in a statement it has recalled 11 chocolate products made at its factory in Beijing which are distributed in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia."

More food in China found with unsafe chemical levels - USATODAY.com

More food in China found with unsafe chemical levels - USATODAY.com:

"HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong supermarkets stripped shelves of a popular cookie brand made in China on Friday after Macau authorities found excessive amounts of the industrial chemical melamine in the product.

The removal of the chocolate-filled cookies came after Macau's Health Bureau found Thursday the amount of melamine in the Koala's March brand was 24 times the safe limit.

The grocery store Wellcome removed the brand made by Japan's Lotte China Foods Co. from shelves Friday, spokeswoman Annie Sin said. Another chain, PARKnSHOP, also pulled the company's cookies."