Back
Shamao will be heading to China on Saturday for the first time since he moved back to the US almost a year ago now. Should provide some good, more timely, fodder for future China related posts. Should be interesting...
April 30, 2008
April 28, 2008
Bipolar patriotism
Readers will know that one of ShaMao's favorite topics is the future of America and that I am pretty bipolar on the subject. One day I will be riding high gushing about philanthropic donations , and the next I will be sunk in the suburban blight of the Detroit suburbs .
I just finished a great essay in Foreign Affairs (no link cuz subscription only) by Fareed Zakaria entitled The Future of American Power that has put me back in the high life. Mr. Zakaria begins by contrasting the decline of the British Empire to current America, then talks for a time about contemporary America's relative strengths and weaknesses, and finishes up with a rather nonspecific call for political reform. In the second section, Mr. Zakaria debunks several common myths that we hear about fairly regularly and presents some illuminating facts including these excerpts below (italics are mine):
- The United States has accounted for roughly a quarter of world output for over a century (32 percent in 1913, 26 percent in 1960, 22 percent in 1980, 27 percent in 2000, and 26 percent in 2007). Most estimates suggest that in 2025 the United States' economy will still be twice the size of China's in terms of nominal GDP.
- The United States spends more on defense research and development than the rest of the world put together. And crucially, it does all this without breaking the bank. U.S. defense expenditure as a percent of GDP is now 4.1 percent, lower than it was for most of the Cold War (under Dwight Eisenhower, it rose to ten percent).
- The Iraq war may be a tragedy or a noble endeavor, but either way, it will not bankrupt the United States. The price tag for Iraq and Afghanistan together -- $125 billion a year -- represents less than one percent of GDP. The war in Vietnam, by comparison, cost the equivalent of 1.6 percent of U.S. GDP in 1970, a large difference. (Neither of these percentages includes second- or third-order costs of war, which allows for a fair comparison even if one disputes the exact figures.)
- Biotech revenues in the United States approached $50 billion in 2005, five times as large as the amount in Europe and representing 76 percent of global biotech revenues.
- Or consider that the United States' current account deficit -- which in 2007 reached $800 billion, or seven percent of GDP -- was supposed to be unsustainable at four percent of GDP. The current account deficit is at a dangerous level, but its magnitude can be explained in part by the fact that there is a worldwide surplus of savings and that the United States remains an unusually stable and attractive place to invest. The decrease in personal savings, as the Harvard economist Richard Cooper has noted, has been largely offset by an increase in corporate savings. The U.S. investment picture also looks much rosier if education and research-and-development spending are considered along with spending on physical capital and housing
- The United States actually trains more engineers per capita than either China or India does. (all the figures we see to the contrary include so called "engineers" graduated by 2 or 3 year technical schools)
- The United States invests 2.6 percent of its GDP in higher education, compared with 1.2 percent in Europe and 1.1 percent in Japan. Depending on which study you look at, the United States, with five percent of the world's population, has either seven or eight of the world's top ten universities and either 48 percent or 68 percent of the top 50. The situation in the sciences is particularly striking. In India, universities graduate between 35 and 50 Ph.D.'s in computer science each year; in the United States, the figure is 1,000. A list of where the world's 1,000 best computer scientists were educated shows that the top ten schools are all American.
- "students in affluent suburban U.S. school districts score nearly as well as students in Singapore, the runaway leader on TIMSS math scores." The difference between the average science scores in poor and wealthy school districts within the United States, for instance, is four to five times as high as the difference between the U.S. and the Singaporean national average. In other words, the problem with U.S. education is a problem of inequality. (I thought this one was interesting and in line with what I see in upper middle class America)
- Tharman Shanmugaratnam, until recently Singapore's minister of education, explains the difference between his country's system and that of the United States: "We both have meritocracies," Shanmugaratnam says. "Yours is a talent meritocracy, ours is an exam meritocracy. We know how to train people to take exams. You know how to use people's talents to the fullest. Both are important, but there are some parts of the intellect that we are not able to test well -- like creativity, curiosity, a sense of adventure, ambition. Most of all, America has a culture of learning that challenges conventional wisdom, even if it means challenging authority."
- The country has found a way to keep itself constantly revitalized by streams of people who are eager to make a new life in a new world. Some Americans have always worried about such immigrants -- whether from Ireland or Italy, China or Mexico. But these immigrants have gone on to become the backbone of the American working class, and their children or grandchildren have entered the American mainstream. The United States has been able to tap this energy, manage diversity, assimilate newcomers, and move ahead economically. Ultimately, this is what sets the country apart from the experience of Britain and all other past great economic powers that have grown fat and lazy and slipped behind as they faced the rise of leaner, hungrier nations.
April 27, 2008
Playboy
Beijing is also expected to permit distribution of Playboy magazine in China for at least a month to meet the demand of overseas visitors during the Olympics, the sources said.
How typical and stupid for so many reasons. First, who the hell even reads it anymore? Second, I have no choice but to view it as racist. In my experience, Chinese tend to think of foreigners as depraved sex fiends. Now I will admit that the actions of many Westerners in China may contribute to this view (with the full cooperation of Chinese women of course), however I always found this funny in a country where there is literally not a village, town or city that does not have some sort of whorehouse (whether ktv, massage parlor, or barbershop) on every block.
Name and Shame
I am really angry with this soon to be passed Farm Bill. It is really pretty pathetic when a piece of legislation not only does not help, but instead actively harms not only the economy but the well being of the poor worldwide. Shame on all those below who voted yea. Double shame on each of our presidential candidates for not having the balls to even take a position.
| Akaka (D-HI), Yea
Alexander (R-TN), Yea Allard (R-CO), Yea Barrasso (R-WY), Yea Baucus (D-MT), Yea Bayh (D-IN), Yea Bennett (R-UT), Nay Biden (D-DE), Not Voting Bingaman (D-NM), Yea Bond (R-MO), Yea Boxer (D-CA), Not Voting Brown (D-OH), Yea Brownback (R-KS), Yea Bunning (R-KY), Yea Burr (R-NC), Nay Byrd (D-WV), Yea Cantwell (D-WA), Yea Cardin (D-MD), Yea Carper (D-DE), Yea Casey (D-PA), Yea Chambliss (R-GA), Yea Clinton (D-NY), Not Voting Coburn (R-OK), Yea Cochran (R-MS), Yea Coleman (R-MN), Yea Collins (R-ME), Nay Conrad (D-ND), Yea Corker (R-TN), Yea Cornyn (R-TX), Yea Craig (R-ID), Yea Crapo (R-ID), Yea DeMint (R-SC), Nay Dodd (D-CT), Not Voting Dole (R-NC), Yea |
Domenici (R-NM), Yea
Dorgan (D-ND), Yea Durbin (D-IL), Yea Ensign (R-NV), Nay Enzi (R-WY), Yea Feingold (D-WI), Yea Feinstein (D-CA), Yea Graham (R-SC), Yea Grassley (R-IA), Yea Gregg (R-NH), Nay Hagel (R-NE), Nay Harkin (D-IA), Yea Hatch (R-UT), Yea Hutchison (R-TX), Yea Inhofe (R-OK), Yea Inouye (D-HI), Yea Isakson (R-GA), Yea Johnson (D-SD), Yea Kennedy (D-MA), Yea Kerry (D-MA), Yea Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea Kohl (D-WI), Yea Kyl (R-AZ), Nay Landrieu (D-LA), Yea Lautenberg (D-NJ), Nay Leahy (D-VT), Yea Levin (D-MI), Yea Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea Lincoln (D-AR), Yea Lott (R-MS), Yea Lugar (R-IN), Nay Martinez (R-FL), Yea McCain (R-AZ), Not Voting McCaskill (D-MO), Yea |
McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Menendez (D-NJ), Yea Mikulski (D-MD), Yea Murkowski (R-AK), Yea Murray (D-WA), Yea Nelson (D-FL), Not Voting Nelson (D-NE), Yea Obama (D-IL), Not Voting Pryor (D-AR), Yea Reed (D-RI), Nay Reid (D-NV), Yea Roberts (R-KS), Yea Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea Salazar (D-CO), Yea Sanders (I-VT), Yea Schumer (D-NY), Yea Sessions (R-AL), Yea Shelby (R-AL), Yea Smith (R-OR), Yea Snowe (R-ME), Yea Specter (R-PA), Yea Stabenow (D-MI), Yea Stevens (R-AK), Yea Sununu (R-NH), Nay Tester (D-MT), Yea Thune (R-SD), Yea Vitter (R-LA), Yea Voinovich (R-OH), Nay Warner (R-VA), Yea Webb (D-VA), Yea Whitehouse (D-RI), Nay W |
April 22, 2008
Praying for global warming
Today I turned my rental car around in the parking lot of a shuttered Walmart. Next to the former Walmart was a strip mall of which about 1/3 was occupied. Next to the strip mall was a shuttered Steak and BBQ restaurant. The kind of eerie thing about these abandoned properties was that they were not rundown. This was not a 1960's or even 1970's looking decrepit strip mall. Both the mall and the restaurant are very 1990's looking in architecture and layout. As I drove further down this very typical looking suburban four lane road, I found closed down gas stations, convenience stores, and many restaurants.
I have seen many examples of urban blight in my life and have also seen rural poverty. But this was the first time I had seen (or perhaps noticed is more honest) very middle class suburban blight. This vision of one version of America's future is in my home away from home these last two months, Michigan.
This post is kind of a part 2 from my February post on comparative advantage. I am having a very hard time envisioning a very bright future for Michigan. At least New Bedford, the town in Massachusetts I wrote about in my Feb post, is near the ocean and surrounded by more prosperous regions. Michigan has crappy weather a good half of the year and seemingly nothing very compelling around it either. Those with the skills and education to get new jobs as the manufacturing continues its exodus will largely move to nicer climes. Those left will perpetuate the blight. Their only hope may be global warming.
April 18, 2008
McCain the Populist
My man McCain is disappointing me again:
This week, I laid out an economic plan aimed at providing immediate and long-term relief for all American families. One of the key components of this plan is a suspension of the federal gas tax on gasoline from Memorial Day to Labor Day of this year.
If there is any truth about the intersection between economics and politics it is that populism is never the economically correct way to go. If something is designed to appeal to the populace at large, you can be sure it is economically nonsensical. What does he think is going to happen in September? If the price of oil hasn't collapsed by that time due to the continuing activities of the traitor (there's that word again) speculators or some global event affecting supply? Are we supposed to believe that politicians will reestablish a tax, increasing the price of gas by $0.30 or so a gallon in a day, two months before an election? It is not going to happen. And after the election, it won't happen then either. This will be a long term reduction in revenues at the worst possible time.
April 09, 2008
I was watching the news tonight on PBS and they were interviewing two idiots about the Olympic torch fiasco. One was from Human Rights Watch and is an idiot because of her childlike simplification of complex issues as is common of a zealout of any stripe. The other was some Chinese American who is an idiot because he is a traitor apologist.
The thing that struck me and has actually struck me several times over the past couple weeks is the obvious questions the reporters miss. Why do they do that? I would expect it of the sound byte constricted on the news networks but would have hoped for better on PBS Lehrer Report.
The traitor started about by saying how he supports people's rights to demonstrate and make their opinion known. So the obvious question is 'yet you don't support a similar right for Chinese? Why not? Then the traitor goes on to say that what the world needs to do is 'engage' China in quiet diplomacy. So the obvious reporter response is: 'I could show you an interview with someone like you for every year from 1989 till the present and their recommended prescription would be the same. What gain in political, not economic, rights have the Chinese people realized after 20 years of 'quiet engagement'?
Of course, since I'm not from Human Rights Watch, I understand the Realpolitik and economic factors that drive our government to act in the way it does. But it is the media's job to probe and question and yet time after time they seem to accept this notion of 'engagement' at face value.
Literacy
Every time I get caught up in my thought's of America's exclusivity, I read something like this that brings me back down to earth:
Bible is America's favorite book
Somehow we manage to prosper despite...
The first thing that comes to mind is that I would wager 90% of the idiots who responded "the Bible" never read the thing. Honestly, its antiquated writing style and abundance of parables and the like does not exactly cater to the kind of folks who rated Dan Brown novels as the #2. As an aside, I just could not believe how bad the writing was in The DaVinci Code. I was given a copy by a friend when I was in China and it was so bad I thought I had a pirated version that had somehow been typed wrong. Then I checked a version in the US and it was the same.
April 07, 2008
Names
I was thinking today that Chinese don't seem to name things after people. I was reading an article about some little island that the Russians are returning to China. The Chinese name for it was Heishanzi dao, so literally black sand island. The Russian name looked like it was named after someone which would be normal in Western tradition.
Chinese nomenclature in general is kind of interesting. What first struck me when looking at the name of the island was the simplicity of the name. Similar name related thoughts have struck me many times in past (particularly with regards to animals that are not native to China where most seemed to be called a type of deer, elephant, or fish). It would be interesting to know the background of English animal words such as giraffe, ostrich, or kangaroo. I suspect that they are all corruptions of local languages where the animals are native. Chinese does not seem to have traditionally borrowed in this manner.
Back to the naming of geographies and the like. I was trying to think of a single Chinese natural feature in China that is named after someone (kind of like Pike's Peak or Mount McKinley etc.) and couldn't think of any. Likewise buildings and even companies also don't seem to often be named after people. Has to do with the individual's place within society I guess. I may be completely wrong about this and just be unaware of the the names of lots of places. If anyone knows of any named after people please let me know.
Names
I was thinking today that Chinese don't seem to name things after people. I was reading an article about some little island that the Russians are returning to China. The Chinese name for it was Heishanzi dao, so literally black sand island. The Russian name looked like it was named after someone which would be normal in Western tradition.
Chinese nomenclature in general is kind of interesting. What first struck me when looking at the name of the island was the simplicity of the name. Similar name related thoughts have struck me many times in past (particularly with regards to animals that are not native to China where most seemed to be called a type of deer, elephant, or fish). It would be interesting to know the background of English animal words such as giraffe, ostrich, or kangaroo. I suspect that they are all corruptions of local languages where the animals are native. Chinese does not seem to have traditionally borrowed in this manner.
Back to the naming of geographies and the like. I was trying to think of a single Chinese natural feature in China that is named after someone (kind of like Pike's Peak or Mount McKinley etc.) and couldn't think of any. Likewise buildings and even companies also don't seem to often be named after people. Has to do with the individual's place within society I guess. I may be completely wrong about this and just be unaware of the the names of lots of places. If anyone knows of any named after people please let me know.
