naked capitalism

ndk says:

As a nit, I don’t think this particular financial doom article has Rogoff as co-author.

I’m finally hearing loud anecdotal reports from my Chinese colleagues and friends about severe job losses. They’re heavily concentrated in IT/development. Some companies there have liquidated entirely — well, more disbanded, as they had no assets other than people anyway — and others have summarily fired upwards of 60% of staff.

Many are scared, and indeed, packing it in for the countryside. Life in the countryside there is not nearly so bad as we commonly conceive, and it’s not isolated at all. Frankly, it’s about the same standard as your average underclass city-dweller. but the farmland is fallow. They, like most people in those small towns scattered across the interior countryside, probably just won’t do much of anything.

Also, this bust is heavily concentrated on the coasts and export sectors. The cities that are more isolated, like Chengdu, aren’t suffering at all yet.

Anonymous says:

A prominent blogger in China discusses the difference the internet has made in the processing of scandals in his blog Roland Soong’s EastSouthWestNorth.

“You will note the role of western media has been eliminated from the process model… If once upon a time western media coverage, which affects the opinion of western politicians and citizens, mattered to the Chinese people, this is no longer the case.

In the political realm, the Chinese people no longer have to believe in the rhetoric of freedom, liberty, democracy, sovereignty and human rights. The war in Iraq, the Abu Ghraib prison, the Guantanamo camp, hurricane Katrina and other misconduct took care of all that. Why would the Chinese people be interested in what American president George W. Bush have to preach to them about freedom, liberty, democracy, sovereignty and human rights? When the western media invoke those terms, the reaction from the Chinese people is: “Look within yourselves and fix your own problems first!”

In the economic realm, the financial tsunami of 2008 took care of any credibility in the Washington consensus. In its place was an as-yet-undefined Beijing consensus which has less specifics than the general idea of self-determination. Why would the Chinese people be interested in what Alan Greenspan and Henry Paulson have to tell them about how to run their economy when they have failure on their hands?”

http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/11/a_fascinating_document_about_t.php#more

Shawn H says:

WAYNE — Ken Pool is making good money. On weekdays, he shows up at 7 a.m. at Ford Motor Co.’s Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne, signs in, and then starts working — on a crossword puzzle. Pool hates the monotony, but the pay is good: more than $31 an hour, plus benefits.

“We just go in and play crossword puzzles, watch videos that someone brings in or read the newspaper,” he says. “Otherwise, I’ve just sat.”

Pool is one of more than 12,000 American autoworkers who, instead of installing windshields or bending sheet metal, spend their days counting the hours in a jobs bank set up by Detroit automakers and Delphi Corp. as part of an extraordinary job security agreement with the United Auto Workers union.

The jobs bank programs were the price the industry paid in the 1980s to win UAW support for controversial efforts to boost productivity through increased automation and more flexible manufacturing.

Tortoise says:

This was a decent article on Greek shipping, the industry and the effect of the current crisis. Yes, the Greek economy has benefited tremendously from the boom in shipping (even more than the numbers mentioned in the article). The bust will destroy the late-comers to the party and those who lost their heads and overextended themselves during the happy times. The traditional shipping houses were scratching their heads that the boom lasted for so long and have cash set aside to buy ships at one quarter their cost of replacement.

Typically, booms last shorter periods than busts. The last boom was extremely profitable and lured a lot of newcomers, who will most likely be crashed during what promises to be at least a typical brutal downturn.

Real estate in Athens will be affected, particularly the most expensive segment. A condominium that in 2000 would be valued at 400,000 euros was sold last summer for 4,000,000 euros. The fall in prices will be spectacular.

Anonymous says:

Cheney's office declined comment. "We have not received any indictments. I can't comment on something we have not received," said Cheney's spokeswoman Megan Mitchell.

>> I'm sure once she does read the indictment, she will say, no comment ….