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WikiLeaks Cable: NASDAQ Folded To Chinese Pressure
jjp9999 writes "A WikiLeaks cable reveals that the NASDAQ folded to pressure from the Chinese regime and kicked out a U.S.-based Chinese TV network, NTD TV. The Chinese Communist Party has been trying to block this station for years now, since it's one of the few major Chinese media that refuses to censor its content. Although they're blocked in Mainland China, they broadcast in with satellites. The timing of the incident aligns well with other actions launched by the CCP against the TV station. They used to broadcast into China through French satellite company Eutelsat, but their connection was cut. Reporters Without Borders investigated and found the Chinese regime was behind it. They now use a Taiwanese satellite."
Sorry, the middle class in China is more important to our businesses than Americans are, given that the middle class in China is larger than the entire American population. Of course, we'll continue to ignore the hundreds of millions of peasants in poverty, just like they're ignored in the US. Bad for profits, you see.
Yeah we need to stop being a poor debtor nation. The only person willing to balance the budget is Ron Paul.
But he's unelectable. And a kook. I'm not sure WHY he's either of those things, but CNN, FOX, NBC keep telling me it's true therefore I believe them.
Also those guys Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity on the Romney Radio network also say it, so that's double verification. (Who am to think on my own? I just do what the authorities tell me.)
(goes back to watching tv)
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
What is this American middle class that you speak of? I thought the Congress that we elected to represent "us" was well on the way to eliminating that.
Around the time the cables were released, Assange said Wikileaks were about to release a tranche of documents implicating a certain US bank in shenanigans. What happened to those?
He's a kook because, while he makes one or two good points, by and large he's a historical and economic ignoramus, or more likely just a snake-oil dealer selling a suite of easy solutions that would neither be easy or solutions.
Imagine for the briefest moment if Ron Paul got elected. It's certainly not going to be the case that Congress is going to be filled with enough like-minded people that would be willing to go along with him, and so he would have at best very limited capacity to make good on any of his promises, and more likely would soon piss off Congress, regardless of party affiliation, and would find himself a very lonely man in the Oval Office as 2/3s majorities killed his vetoes and refused to co-operate with any of his plans.
Remember this, though sometimes it's hard to tell these days, a President is only as strong as Congress allows him to be.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
if you get the stalled situation, like you said, maybe that's not too bad!
all our 'progress' in the last 10 or 15 years has been backward.
if we stand still, that's actually going forward! (head asplodes).
seriously, though; I'd be ok with having a guy in office that congress can't work with; as long as its both parties that can't work with him. enemy of my enemy and all that.
at this point, even a lunatic would get my vote if he's a true outsider. insiders are all messed up and voting for the same-old is not working. get some crazy guy in there as long as he's not R or D crazy. we've all had enough of that fake R/D choice, haven't we?
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
He's called a kook because his preferred economic theory is to ignore evidence and history, especially when turned into mathematical models, and invest based on psychology. "We think this stock will do well, because the company's CEO is so charismatic" is Austrian School economic advice. The Austrian School is the conspiracy theory of economics. Once in a while, somebody predicts something that happens, but not reliably enough for it to be taken seriously, and the evidence in favor of other theories is far more substantial.
The idea of a perfectly-balanced budget makes little sense for a government. Running with some debt allows the country to have more liquid cash now, and pay for it with growth in a few years. What is even more absurd is going into debt by much more than we can reasonably expect to gain over a short time. Unfortunately, that's what's happening now: With more people unemployed, income taxes are bringing in less revenue than expected, but the contracts still have to be fulfilled, and that means that money has to come from somewhere. China has money to spare, so we sell them bonds to cover our contractual obligations. Of course, this mean we'll owe China a huge amount of money in a while, but that's actually somewhat preferable to defaulting on a large amount now.
There is a possibility that China will forgive some debt in exchange for more lenient political posturing, or extend it to a longer period with little or no additional cost. We'll have to wait and see what happens over the next few years. Maybe Apple will decide to bring its manufacturing to the US, boosting the American economy high enough to cover the debts. Here's hoping.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
Ron Paul isn't selling easy solutions: that's precisely why he won't get elected.
People don't want to hear that saving the country requires major changes and serious pain... which is why they'll vote for more of the same and then act surprised in ten years when the Chinese bailiffs turn up to load everything of value into ships as debt repayment after America goes bankrupt.
Because his economic notions are sheer fantasy? Because he would gut government services in pursuit of his fantasy libertarian tiny government?
From wiki
If he made all of these changes he would probably leave a broken shell with no social programs, unregulated industry, and leave the US even more xenophobic and assholish than they are now, and with no tax revenue left because he's given the rich and the corporations a pass on paying them.
He's only slightly less crazy than the guys in armed militias, and anybody who believes his changes would make for a stronger nation has bought into the Libertarian tripe that says the free market is the highest moral ideal.
What he proposes sounds good to him and his base, but it's largely fantasy that simply won't work the way he believes it will ... this isn't sound economic theory, it's a religion.
I don't doubt that he sincerely believes it all, but I have no belief whatsoever that he would do anything other than wreak havoc.
A president has more power than you think.
(1) He can veto, and veto, and veto again any budgets that increase spending. He can just sit tight until the Congress finally he gives him a balanced budget (or close to one).
(2) As Commander-in-Chief he could end the slaughter of innocent men, women, and children in Afghanistan almost immediately. He's simply order them to withdraw and come home.
(3) Also Ron Paul founded the Liberty Caucus in the Congress. It has about 100 members. All they need to do is swing a few Republicans and Democrats to join their cause, in order to get the 51% majority needed to pass laws. (Such as a repeal of the NDAA and Patriot Act.)
IMHO :-)
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
>>>"if we stand still, that's actually going forward! (head asplodes)."
You think like a Congressman!
"We made significant cuts in the budget."
But you increased spending by 2%!
"Right. But we had originally planned to increase spending by 5%, so we've cut our original goals. We made cuts. You should reelect us."
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
Whereas it used to be "democratic capitalism" vs. "totalitarian communism", what we see now is the merger of the two ideologies into "totalitarian capitalism".
Orwell: "In a Time of Universal Deceit, telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act"
Wow.
You are the perfect example of somone who has been programmed by the media.
(1) You are bigoted against creationists? Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Hindus? Wiow. (2) And no he's not a racist. Here's video to prove it - http://youtu.be/i3EADdr-5AY
(3) >>>kill off all social programs
"We made a promise to our citizens to provide Medicare and Social Security, and we must honor that promise. I will make no cuts to those benefits, though people 25 and younger will have the option to opt-out. The cuts will be made through offering early retirement to government workers and soldiers. 1 trillion dollars cut by 2014/" - Ron Paul at his Budget Meeting
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
Actually, his point is quite valid. There are situations where congress should have stepped in but didn't (banks), and also situations where congress needs to stay the hell out of it but is eagerly trying to regulate (the internet). Literally, not regulating the internet is a far smarter move than actually doing so.
Same people do both, and it's bipartisan.
Basically, the issue is that money is still funding politics.
1) This alone shows how fucking ignorant you are. Congress can override a veto
2) He could do that, be the results would be really, really, fucking bad. If the pull out isn't done in a way that leaves an established power, even more people will die under the following religious extremist the fill the power vacuum.
3) Yes, letting corporations run with even less regulation, that would be fucking genius. Everythign else about the party is just smoke and mirrors. Look at their record.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I'm not an economics person but there are plenty of people who do (like Ph.D. Walter E Williams and Thomas Sowell), and they are warning us of the current danger.
Or you could just look at Iceland, Greece and Italy. The U.S. has almost the same debt-to-GDP load they have. We are not immune to the same collapse as they did.
Already China and Russia are abandoning the dollar in order to trade directly with gold (or gold-backed SDRs). It's time to wake up. http://rt.com/programs/keiser-report/
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
In all seriousness, what the hell is the American middle class? Here in the UK it pretty much means you've got two employed adults or one adult in a high-paying, professional job and your big problems are all First World Problems. In the US media it seems to mean anything from a highly-paid expert consultant for space rockets to a family scraping together mortgage payments on an pile of 1970s drywall by taking on four part time jobs at the minimum wage.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
He's selling crazy, and we're all stocked up on the stuff. For every good idea he has, he has two that are the ramblings of a freeway off-ramp prophet.
His competition includes a known adulterer and hypocrite who claims he can build a functional moon base in 8 years, an imbicile who thinks Jesus rode dinosaurs (not to mention bearing a terrifying verbal resemblance to Gee-Dub), and a third guy who made his fortune by raping the American economy and honestly believes Joseph Smith was anything but a con man... that's not even taking into account the Liar in Chief.
Compared to those guys, Ron Paul is positively fucking enlightened.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
My prediction:
Mitt Romney will be the GOP nominee. Obama will likely defeat him by a wider margin than he did McCain. Nobody really really likes Mitt, he is better looking than McCain but the policy is all the same. The base can't get behind it, they won't come out to vote, election over.
-1 or 2 years from now we will be at War with Iran, but not Russia we are to important a trade partner. The Russians will claim neutrality while making our lives hard.
-You and I will sit here and tell people they should have voted for Ron Paul.
-The Obama voters will are not already wondering what happened to Hope and Change will device, not get fooled again. Next election GOP will win with a Chris Christy or other popular governor. The DNC will take a drubbing.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
Yes and no. The problem, as some European nations have recently discovered, is that it doesn't take a whole lot of uncertainty for interest rates to skyrocket. Right now we can issue debt and people will buy it at low interest rates because they trust that we will, in fact, be good for it. China has been buying a large amount of our debt because they have the money, and because they see it as a solid investment - not least because it helps prop up our economy which helps their economy immensely - so they effectively get the interest on the debt plus the positive effect that debt has on their economy.
This has been great for the U.S., because we have been able to maintain low interest rates on our massive debt that keeps it affordable. As long as those interest rates are low, we are fine. However, if China ever decided that they were no longer interested in buying our debt, the interest rates would likely need to be increased to attract investment from other parties. Even relatively small increases in the interest rate result in major increases in our cost of borrowing, which increases the likelihood of default (all else being equal). This is what bit Greece and others - they were okay as long as interest rates stayed low; as soon as rates started to increase because there was some doubt about their future ability to pay it back, that once-affordable debt load quickly became unaffordable. Which, of course, made investors more wary of buying their debt, leading to further increases in interest rates, and so on. The same thing could happen with the U.S. debt, and it could happen very quickly.
Ironically, perhaps the best protection against China abandoning our debt and wreaking havoc with our economy is to ensure that we continue being their major export market. This relationship makes the effective interest rate they receive on our debt higher - basically, with our trade balance they are guaranteed to get a good portion of the economic activity generated by the debt they are buying from us. Large-scale investment from, say, Russia, would not see that extra benefit so buying our debt (as opposed to the debt of a significant trade partner, assuming Russia was in the position to buy anyone's debt) isn't as attractive to them. So, China is willing to buy our debt at a lower interest rate than some other investors might, which helps to keep our debt affordable, which allows us to buy more from China. Not to say that this relationship can go on forever, but a lot of the noise about immediately trying to cut our trade with China could easily backfire and make our current debt-load crippling.