Stepped away from the computer this weekend and ventured out to Chinatown. Went to get bubble tea at our favorite restaurant to find they weren’t serving it, because their milk came from China. A trip to a second bubble tea store and asked where did they get their milk. “Mei Guo! Mei Guo!” they said, which means America in Mandarin, “HEB!” the Houston grocery store. They showed us the half and half and carefully made the bubble tea with it so we can see it. Nevertheless they had a can of Nestle Chinese milk there, actually quite inconspicuous. So if you don’t ask they will use the canned stuff. So, there are
View Larger Map“>208 bubble tea stores in Houston, and if 75% are using Chinese milk, well you could do the math.

By the way, have you noticed that 300,000 Chinese babies have fallen ill from melamine poisoning? Keep in mind this number is what the official number is, so it is likely to be higher than that. Quite amazing.

Zakaria says America’s only hope is to kowtow to the Chinese.  As usual, I disagree.  Also as usual, the most interesting words are not his own:

“People often say that China and America are equally dependent on each other,” says Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics. “But that’s no longer true. China has two ways to keep its economy growing. One way is to finance the American consumer. But another way is to finance its own citizens, who are increasingly able to consume in large enough quantities to stimulate economic growth in China. They have options, we don’t. There isn’t really any other country that could finance the American deficit.”

The Chinese are in this position because their labor is far cheaper than ours, and as such they can sell a lot of it. My response to this is essentially this. You won’t see any return to sensible trade and fiscal policy in our country until the Chinese can (or will) no longer purchase our bonds in such large quantities. I’m not saying I don’t want to see foreign investment, I’m just saying I want to see the kind of policies, like balanced budgets, that in a reasonable world would invite foreign investment. Zakaria and the NY Times, and apparently everyone in the media, is saying we desperately need to deleverage….later.

I guess I’d rather a sharp steep recession than an endless one. But no, it’s all spend, spend, spend, more easy money, bail out rotten banks, and go Christmas shopping, for the sake of the economy.

Just in time for Christmas, boys and girls. Kids in Australia that consumed these aqua dots fell sick, it has since been pulled from the shelves in Australia, Spain, and from Toys R Us stores worldwide.

This kind of story is encouraging, though all these recalls of Chinese products have hardly made a dent in the market.

As consumers look for alternatives to Chinese-made toys following a series of recalls this year, dozens of small toy companies are struggling to meet surging demand. Some owners report online sales up as much as fivefold from last year. They’re hiring extra workers, expanding warehouses and adding extra assembly shifts.

Chinese recall spurs demand for American-made toys

A simple, straightforward take on Taiwan and the UN, that happens to be right on the money.

The first-ever head of China’s food and drug oversight agency, Zheng Xiaoyu, was executed earlier this month after having taken numerous bribes from pharmaceutical companies. Ironically, the agency was formed in the late 1990’s after Zheng had successfully lobbied for its creation to counter the distribution of unsafe drugs.

Obviously, this guy screwed up. However, it’s well-known that such corruption is widespread in the Chinese government. Why did such a prominent official receive the harshest of penalties? Could this be a warning to other officials of an impending crackdown? Or, was this a textbook example of a Communist government responding the only way it knows how (by killing in order to save face and hoping everyone doesn’t focus on the larger problem)? Or, was this done merely as an economic ploy in light of all of the recent news regarding unsafe Chinese products? We can all speculate, but one thing is certain: government “protection” is far from absolute and is often nothing more than a false sense of security.

Wilmington Star

Now here’s something I didn’t know. China has a State-Controlled Catholic Church called the Patriotic Church. The issue is, of course, how much say-so the Vatican has in selection of Bishops. Diplomatic relations between China and the Vatican have been cut off since 1951, and evidently both Beijing and the Pope have “tolerated” a government-controlled Catholic Church in the People’s Republic.

This has been going on for a little under 2000 years. How much say-so does a Pope in Rome have over the personnel and organization of its Church in a sovereign country? The answer is, as much say-so as that country’s government wants it to have. In most cases, it’s a lot, in some, it’s virtually none.

BBC NEWS

Here’s a story about China controlling the weather; one of the benefits would be a sunny summer Olympics. Oddly enough, it’s not controlling the weather that sparked my interest. Reading further we have the following:

China’s more than 30 provinces and province-level municipalities today boast a weather-modification base, employing more than 32,000 people, 7,100 anti-aircraft guns, 4,991 special rocket launchers and 30-odd aircraft across the country…

“Ours is the largest artificial weather program in the world in terms of equipment, size and budget,” Wang said, adding that the annual nationwide budget for weather modification is between US$60 million and $90 million.

Let’s recap: 32,000 people employed on a $90M budget? Let’s assume that there are no capital expenditures, no anti-aircraft guns, no rocket launcher, no need for chemicals (let’s assume these are all military surplus, of which China has a huge supply), no maintenance costs (we’re just going to let the equipment rust until it disintegrates), no overhead or anything….And, let’s be conservative and say that each person is working half time. That gives us 16,000 full time equivalents (FTEs).

That would be approx $5600 per year per full time equivalent (compare this with $2800 per year per FTE, which assumes all are working full time). According to US Standards, all employed under this system would be in poverty. By World Bank standards these workers are not considered poor (remember, no costs other than salaries). Anything strange here?

Asia Times Online :: China News - Ready, aim, fire and rain

Chinese Youth Killed By Cell Phone Battery Blast

Jul 3 03:10 PM US/Eastern

Chinese Youth Killed By Cell Phone Battery Blast beijing , July 03 (qna) - A 22-year-old Welder In North-western China Died When His Cell Phone Battery Exploded As He Was Working In Hot Temperatures, A Newspaper Reported Tuesday. The Battery Exploded While The Phone Was In The Man’s Pocket As He Was Welding At A Factory In Shuangcheng In Jinta County In Gansu Province, The Lanzhou Chenbao Reported, Adding That The Death Was Believed To Be The First In China Caused By A Cell Phone Battery. The June 19 Blast Broke A Rib And Drove It Into The Man’s Heart And He Collapsed In A Pool Of Blood, The Report Said. He Was Taken To Hospital But Died There. The Manufacturer Of The Phone Was Notified And Dispatched Experts To Jinta To Conduct An Investigation. qna 1906 Gmt 2007/07/03<

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=upiQNB-2007070320074461&show_article=1&catnum=-1