标题: China Is No Enron [打印本页] 作者: choi 时间: 1-13-2010 12:20 标题: China Is No Enron 本文通过一路BBS站telnet客户端发布
Thomas Friedman, Is China the Next Enron? I'd Be Careful About That. New
York Times, Jan. 13, 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/opinion/13friedman.html?scp=1&sq=friedman%20chanos&st=cse
My comment:
(a) About the phrase:
"in spades
Considerably, in the extreme; also, without restraint. For example, They
were having money problems, in spades, or Jan told him what he really
thought of him, in spades. This expression alludes to spades as the highest-
ranking suit in various card games, such as bridge, and transfers "highest"
to other extremes. [Colloquial; 1920s]"
The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer (1997).
(b) In my opinion, Mr. Friedman makes two mistakes in this commentary.
(i) It is wrong to equate repatriation to Hong Kong to that to China.
Federal laws of US treat the two entities differently.
(ii) While in Taiwan, the columnist spoke with the premier. 李明宗, 吳敦義:
可預見的未來 兩岸難有政治突破. Central News Agency, Jan. 11, 2010.
http://www.cna.com.tw/ShowNews/Detail.aspx?pNewsID=201001110240&pType0=aIPL&pTypeSel=0
(iii) Taiwanese won't be able to influence--much less decicively--China.
From the manpower or finance or technology, Taiwan is a drop in the bucket,
compared to the problems China is facing. Not even US will be up to the task
--and that was why Pres. Truman elected early on never to send in troops to
prop up the Chiang regime.
-------------Separately but along this line
(1) Jonathan Cheng, Big Chinese Companies Take to the Skyline; Seeing
Profits, Companies Jump Into Commercial Real-Estate Sector; Hopping Onto
Environmental Bandwagon. Wall Street Journal, Jan. 13, 2010.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703672104574654290896733028.html
("Office vacancy levels are at about 20% in Beijing and 16% in Shanghai.
Those are high rates by U.S. and European standards, but the new space is
expected to be absorbed quickly thanks to the strong growth of the Chinese
economy.")
My comment: This reminds me of the Patriots' Sunday loss in the wild card
game. I live in Boston, whose football team Patriots, as well as the
quarterback Tom Brady, is legendary. Both TV commentators and fans had faith
that miracles would come along, despite Patriots' trailing badly throughout
the game. They waited and waited but miracles did not come. China can not
escape gravity, either. What goes up must come down.
My comment:
(a) There is no need to read the rest of this VOA report.
(b) Setting aside wisdom, or lackthereof, of China's high-speed train
transformation, I do not know how a business like this or Shanghai MagLev,
can survive financially.
-- 作者: joshua 时间: 1-13-2010 13:54 标题: Re: China Is No Enron 本文通过一路BBS站telnet客户端发布
: b) In my opinion, Mr. Friedman makes two mistakes in this commentary.
Friedman lamented about the disadvantage of US political system over an authoritarian one on "green tech/polution" policies a while ago. And I thought he was totally out of touch. How come a top notch columnist only see Beijing or Shanghai when studying China?
【 在 choi 的大作中提到: 】
: Thomas Friedman, Is China the Next Enron? I'd Be Careful About That. New
: York Times, Jan. 13, 2010.
: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/opinion/13friedman.html?scp=1&sq=friedman%20chanos&st=cse
: My comment:
: (a) About the phrase:
: (以下引言省略...)
-- 作者: choi 时间: 1-13-2010 19:46 标题: Re: China Is No Enron 本文通过一路BBS站telnet客户端发布
(continued)
(3) Geoff Dyer, The soap opera of China's housing boom. Financial Times, Jan. 7, 2010.
http://wap.ftchinese.com/index.php/ft/story/001030684/en
(a) Excerpt in the window of the print: Nothing screams Dubai more than the 7-star hotel and indoor ski slope that are also part of the plans for luxury villas in Tianjin
(b) Quote:
"But there is one factor that makes even property bulls pause for thought: the acres of empty flats in high-end compounds in many Chinese cities. * * * By one estimate, 587m sq m of apartments have been left empty by owners.
"The obvious solution is a property tax. Chinese pay a one-off transaction tax when they buy a house but nothing afterwards.
(c) Both definitions are from www.m-w.com.
(i) flat (n): "chiefly British : an apartment on one floor"
(ii) one-off (adj): "limited to a single time, occasion, or instance"
【 在 choi 的大作中提到: 】
: Thomas Friedman, Is China the Next Enron? I'd Be Careful About That. New
: York Times, Jan. 13, 2010.
: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/opinion/13friedman.html?scp=1&sq=friedman%20chanos&st=cse
: My comment:
: (a) About the phrase:
: (以下引言省略...)
-- 作者: choi 时间: 1-13-2010 19:56 标题: Re: China Is No Enron 本文通过一路BBS站telnet客户端发布
I have to admit that I only read his preface in his best seller The World Is Flat."
Can you provide, if not citation, some tidbits, such as when, what (title), and where (publication), so that I can find and read it? Off hand, I will say there have been some reports and articles, even from CONSERVATIVE financial news (such as Financial Times) that play up China's advance in green tech. However, I know that even though China became No.1 a year ago in photovoltaic production, the technology was first generation, rather than second generation. Besides, it was well reported that ALL PV companies of the world suffered severe loss in the financial crisis, including those in China--thanks to dramatic drop in demand.
【 在 joshua 的大作中提到: 】
: : b) In my opinion, Mr. Friedman makes two mistakes in this commentary.
: Friedman lamented about the disadvantage of US political system over an authoritarian one on "green tech/polution" policies a while ago. And I thought he was totally out of touch. How come a top notch columnist only see Beijing or Shanghai when study
: (以下引言省略...)
-- 作者: joshua 时间: 1-13-2010 21:08 标题: Re: China Is No Enron 本文通过一路BBS站telnet客户端发布
: Can you provide, if not citation, some tidbits, such as when, what (title), and where (publication), so that I can find and read it?
Among NYT columnists, I regularly read David Brooks and Ross Douthat (subscription to their RSS feeds in google reader), and occasionally Tom Friedman and Nicholas Kristof through nyt.com.
【 在 choi 的大作中提到: 】
: I have to admit that I only read his preface in his best seller The World Is Flat."
: Can you provide, if not citation, some tidbits, such as when, what (title), and where (publication), so that I can find and read it? Off hand, I will say there have been some reports and articles, even from CONSERVATIVE financial news (such as Financ
: (以下引言省略...)