Trade War Looms

Wow.  If Chinese policymakers are as dogmatic as this reporter for China People's Daily, it seems we might have a trade war on our hands. 

"Then, the economic pundits and China critics would go on to reprimand China for "intentionally" keeping a lower value of the yuan in order to gain an upper-hand in exports to America, which, these people say, has bankrupted American manufacturers and made Americans jobless. But, will the insolvent factories come back humming and employing, once the value of the yuan is hiked by another 23 percent? Nobel laureate Krugman knows that slightly higher-priced products, made in Mexico, or Vietnam, will replace inexpensive goods made in China on the shelves, and the bread-earners and pensioners will have to pay more. It is fairly unlikely that the multinational companies would retool their plants and contributing jobs in the United States. "
....
"To help Chinese consume more American products, the government in Washington needs to relax its Cold-War-perplexing controls on civilian as well as military technologies, because exports of California grapes, Florida oranges and Midwest wheat and beans cannot make a balanced sheet. And, it is important to allow Chinese businessmen to invest in American ventures and buy stakes in local projects, providing permanent jobs to American people and contributing to local government revenues. "

Sublime with Rome

During high school in FL, I was a huge Sublime fan.  Their music resonates well with 17yr old boys, fascinated with CA beach culture.  South Florida has many beautiful beaches but the retiree culture down there is so different from the culture of Long Beach, Santa Cruz or Santa Barbara for that matter.  

I never saw them play live because like my brief curiosity with Nirvana, the lead signer was already deceased before I ever heard his music. 

Unbeknownst to me, in 2009 the surviving bandmates joined up with frontman Rome Martinez to form a reunion band called Sublime with Rome.  I'd really like to see them play and they'll be performing in Santa Cruz 11/7-8, but unfortunately, those are work nights for me.  

If anyone is able to get down for that (or even better, hit up the Oct. 10th Sao Paolo show), let me know how it goes.

Chicken Came Home to Roost

I went back to Seattle this weekend to visit my old roommates to find they have a chicken coop now. It is awesome and I hope to be here someday when they are serving fresh eggs.

Vote to Raise Taxes in November

This fall do not vote for any candidate that is pushing for tax cuts unless they have a plan for cutting an equivalent amount of govt spending.  Our tax rates are not too high, they are actually at record lows, especially corporate tax rates.  

Over the last three decades, corporate management and shareholders have greatly benefited from a debt fueled consumption binge while investment has fallen to record lows. At the same time tea-party candidates and commentators like Glenn Beck (who made $32m last year) are trying to use populist and patriotic rhetoric to convince you to oppose the expiration of the Bush tax cuts while now one in seven Americans live in poverty.  

Is that really good for the populous?  Is it really patriotic for a smaller and smaller group of wealthy people to collect the earnings of this great country while our infrastructure and education systems crumble?  Bill Gates Sr., a multi-millionaire in his own right, doesn't seem to think so.  

We all need to do our part to rein in budget deficits and rebuild the economy.  Pensioners need to take benefit cuts, especially the big teacher and government employee unions.  Seniors need to adopt a needs-based social security plan and accept some kind of rationed medical care.  Boomers should support a higher retirement age.  Defense contractors need to accept a smaller budget for a smarter, more agile modern military.  I could go on and on, but most of all, corporations and their shareholders need to accept a more equitable tax structure which in the 1950s, laid the foundations for decades of prosperity.

Thoughts?  Rebuttal for why we need to cut taxes? 

Big Government?

Today there was a very interesting post describing government employment on Calculated Risk (responding to a post on Econbrowser).  

Much of the conservative punditry claims that politicians in Washington are creating a huge federal government apparatus when the reality is that...
  1. The growth in the number of government employees has occurred at the state and local levels; places that ordinary citizens can directly impact with their ballots or their feet.
  2. Government employment is just keeping pace with the amount of economic activity our government needs to govern.
  3. The number of educators is growing faster than the economy.  I am not sure this is a good or bad thing.  The problems with our education system do not seem to be getting solved despite throwing more money and more teachers at them.