China Is No Enron

choi

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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.

(2) 中国试行春运火车票实名制. VOA Chinese, Jan. 12, 2010.
http://www1.voanews.com/chinese/news/china/CHINA-PILOTS-NAME-BASED-TRAIN-TICKET-SALE-SURING-SPRING-FESTIVAL-RUSH-20100112-81228807.html

Quote:

"中国铁道部推出的春运火车购票实名制是否能够如其所愿，缓解一票难求的局面呢？[
北京法律公益研究中心主任] 郝劲松认为，据他个人乘车经验，仅靠实名制很难改善局
面：'今年情况比较特殊，因为前今年铁道部开通动车组后出现了一个情况，因为动车
组车票比较贵，像前一段时间我去杭州要820块钱的票价。我上了火车后，车厢里连我
总共才4个人。票价高昂造成了动车空驶率非常高。'

"郝劲松说，一般民众谁也不愿意为了早到目的地几个小时就花两倍的钱买以D字打头的
高速火车--动车车票。为了迫使大家都坐动车，铁道部门就在动车线路上停运了一批特
快车和直达车等绿皮车。

"郝劲松对今年春运获得改善的前景并不感到乐观。他说，动车的运力相对有限，一趟
动车只能运载9百多人，而一趟绿皮车慢车可以拉1千5百多人。 他认为，铁道部停运绿
皮车直接造成铁道运力的下降，而且造成贫困地区民众坐不起火车，剥夺了他们享受铁
路公共资源的权力。

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.

--

joshua

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: 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...)

--

choi

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...)

--

choi

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...)

--

joshua

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?

"Our One-Party Democracy": http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/opinion/09friedman.html

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...)

--