Blog @ MoreWhat.com

Could it be that foreign carmakers are developing an Achilles heel? No doubt American automakers have taken it on the chin for some time. And much of that is their own doing. But with the advent of Government Motors courtesy of the Obama administration and other related developments one thing seems clear.

Ford Motor Company has faired better than its American competitors. For a review of current accomplishments of note beyond not taking a government bailout check these links on the Ford story.

Ford Market Share and Sales Increase

Ford F-Series Does It Again

Ford Sweeps Awards

Ford Wins Technology Award

2011 Ford Focus Debuts

They may not be killer but then they’re not being killed either. Can you say that about GM or Chrysler? No.

So what can be said about the recent Toyota debacle stemming from ‘foot feeds’ from CTS? While it is causing a serious setback for Toyota it would seem Ford has limited exposure.

Ford Suspends Assembly of Van in China Over CTS Pedal

CTS-built pedal assemblies were used in 1,663 Transit Classic vans made by the [Ford] venture with Jiangling Motors Corp. in Nanchang, China, said Said Deep, a spokesman for Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford. The venture began using the CTS part in December for the vans, which are sold only in China, he said today in an interview.

GM, Ford, Chrysler, Hyundai and probably others are offering incentives to lure Toyota customers to their products. It likely won’t do much for GM and Chrysler but for Ford it may be all upside.

So the question is repeated given other developments in the recent past. Are foreign carmakers developing an Achilles heel? Here are the older reports about foreign car company setbacks given the so-called global financial crisis.

Losses Strike Three Japanese Auto Makers from February 2009

Auto makers have been left with little choice but to scale down production and shed jobs as sales in the U.S., Europe and Japan stumble to lows not seen in decades.

Japan Lifts Auto Forecasts

The upgraded forecasts coincide with data from the Japan Automobile Dealers Association showing that Japan’s auto sales for October jumped 12.6%, the third straight monthly increase, highlighting the improving business environment for domestic auto industry.

Okay, so it may have been just a blip in the typically mistake-free Japanese auto industry. But to have the anomaly of this significant recall so soon after may be systemic. Failures of the American auto industry may be contagious.

A learning curve initiated by earlier American failures may give them a leg up if the Japanese companies fall victim to their own set of problems from this point forward. But these lessons are hard learned by over-confident corporate leadership in the land of golden parachutes and bailouts. Ford Motor Company may be the exception.

Stanford Mattheew
MoreWhat.com

The Day of Infamy

The attack on Pearl Harbor was the culmination of a decade of deteriorating relations between Japan and the United States over the status of China and the security of Southeast Asia. The breakdown began in 1931 when Japanese army extremists, in defiance of government policy, invaded and overran the northern-most Chinese province of Manchuria. Japan ignored American protests, and in the summer of 1937 launched a full-scale attack on the rest of China. Although alarmed by this action, neither the United States nor any other nation with interests in the Far East was willing to use military force to halt Japanese expansion.

Over the next three years, war broke out in Europe and Japan joined Nazi Germany in the Axis Alliance. The United States applied both diplomatic and economic pressures to try to resolve the Sino-Japanese conflict. The Japanese government viewed these measures, especially an embargo on oil, as threats to their nation’s security. By the summer of 1941, both countries had taken positions from which they could not retreat without a serious loss of national prestige. Although both governments continued to negotiate their differences, Japan had already decided on war.

The attack on Pearl Harbor was part of a grand strategy of conquest in the Western Pacific. The objective was to immobilize the Pacific Fleet so that the United States could not interfere with these invasion plans. The principal architect of the attack was Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet. Though personally opposed to war with America, Admiral Yamamoto knew that Japan’s only hope of success in such a war was to achieve quick and decisive victory. America’s superior economic and industrial might would tip the scales in her favor during a prolonged conflict.

Pearl Harbor: 68 years (Michelle Malkin) 

crossposted at:
Maggie’s Notebook
Conservative Thoughts

IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei has circulated his latest reports on nuclear safeguards in Iran and Syria to Member States. The report outlines developments since the Director General´s report of 5 June 2009.

Circulation of the reports is restricted; they cannot be released to the public unless the IAEA Board decides otherwise.

General Mohamed ElBaradei has circulated his latest report on nuclear safeguards in Iran to the Agency´s Board of Governors, the 35-member policymaking body. The Board next convenes in Vienna on 7 September.

So here’s a recent Arab response on Iran’s nuclear program.

Israeli nuclear weapons and Western hypocrisy
By Yusuf Fernandez (Source: thepeoplevoice.org)

Once again, Arab states have announced that this year they will submit a resolution at September’s general assembly of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in order to force Israel to sign the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and open up its secretive military nuclear program to international inspections.

The article also suggests ‘Israel’s rejection to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as the main obstacle to global nuclear disarmament.’ After stating that Israel has nukes with a 2000 km range and able to reach any Arab capital the article changes direction with ‘Israel is one of the few states in the world that have refused to sign the NPT and is reportedly the only state in the Middle East having nuclear weapons.’

Reportedly the only state in the Middle East having nukes, indeed. ‘Iran has repeatedly assured that its nuclear program is peaceful…’ Repeatedly ‘assured’ is the key here.

You may recall that Saddam Hussein commented after being apprehended from a hole in the ground that he did nothing to convince the world Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction for fear of looking weak to ‘his’ neighbors in the region. Had he not chosen that strategy he may have avoided another confrontation with the US military accompanied by the inevitable outcome. As if Desert Storm in 1991 was not proof enough he could not win a war against the US after invading Kuwait.

Like Iraq’s former ‘leader’ Saddam Hussein, Iran’s leadership behaves in a similar manner allowing statements calling for the destruction of Israel to stand refusing to recognize Israel’s right to exist and yet claim their nuclear ambitions are purely peaceful. They now promote the notion of ‘Western hypocrisy’ while they express the desire to destroy Israel and at the same time define their nuclear program as ‘peaceful’.

If you are curious to know who is Yusef Fernandez the following is from Frontpage magazine. ‘Yusuf Fernandez, the spokesman for the Spanish Federation of Islamic Religious Entities…‘

Some additional information may be found useful as well.

In 1967 the first law allowing the Muslims to organize themselves, after a parenthesis of centuries, was promulgated in Spain, leading to the establishment in 1968 of the first local Muslim Association in Spain in Melilla, and in 1971, the first national association, the Association of Muslims in Spain (AME), which has its headquarters in Madrid. Under the Spanish Constitution the Statutory Law of Religious Freedom is promulgated, now in force, and the Union of Islamic Communities in Spain was constituted (UCIDE), as well as the Spanish Federation of Islamic Religious Entities (FEERI), which together constitute the Islamic Commission of Spain (CIE), which is a member of the Muslim Council of Cooperation in Europe (MCCE)[1]in Brussels, which is a consultative body to the European Union.

So the IAEA reports to this point have solved nothing as indicated in numerous reports in the ‘media’.

Yossi Melman / The IAEA report on Iran lacks the bottom line

‘IAEA hiding incriminating evidence’

UN nuclear watchdog denies hiding Iran information

UN reports increase in Iranian uranium programme

IAEA to report Iran atom slowdown ahead of talks

Iran, Syria have not carried out sufficient cooperation in …

Iran is continuing nuclear activity, says United Nations watchdog

Iran Claims Report ‘Vindicated’ Nuclear Program

Iran dismisses nuclear assessment

Iran is stonewalling the UN nuclear watchdog agency about “possible military dimensions” to its suspect nuclear programme, officials have said.

The UN is urging the regime to clarify the mysterious role of a foreign explosives expert and shed light on other issues.

A senior Iranian envoy angrily denounced the assessment as “fabrication,” insisting his country has gone out of its way to be transparent and co-operative.

In its latest report, the International Atomic Energy Agency said it has pressed the Islamic Republic to clarify its uranium enrichment activities and reassure the world that it is not trying to build an atomic weapon.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful and geared solely toward generating electricity. The United States and key allies contend the country is covertly trying to build an atomic weapon.

These stories support comments suggesting the ‘international community’ response to the nuclear ambitions of Iran, North Korea and others is impotent. They do nothing about the problem outside of promoting resolutions at the equally impotent United Nations. This criticism includes the IAEA.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

If the reports below are any indication of what can be expected from the G20 summit in London this week anyone skeptical of good news resulting will not be disappointed. It is likely the optimistic expectations suggested by President Obama of the US and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain will not come to fruition.

Apparently those in charge of releasing a collective statement for leaders in attendance are having difficulty deciding what to say. After embarrassing leaks and reports of numerous revisions this may demonstrate the feeble performance yet to appear from the world’s, ah hem, leaders.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

The Times understands that the money will come in three separate packages.

The first are new lines of credt worth more than $100 billion to encourage countries to trade more.

The second is a possible tripling to $750 billion in the resources held by the International Monetary Fund to rescue struggling economies. The extra money will come from Japan, the EU, China and others.

The third is a one-off allocation of “special drawing rights” that enable countries to swap their own currencies for IMF backed resources.The effect is to give those countries more confidence to deplete their reserves and expand.

The report above is from the Times and the one below from the Telegraph (UK)

A version that surfaced in Germany last week appeared to show that leaders are still not agreeing on what to say about “fiscal stimulus” measures to boost economic activity by borrowing.

British officials have insisted that that the German leak was out of date and failed to reflect the intense negotiations carried out by “sherpas” and other officials ahead of the actual summit.

In fact, the text being circulated in London today commits leaders only to make “the scale of sustained effort necessary to restore growth” and contains no detail about the size and type of stimulus countries should undertake.

For a little entertainment you may wish to follow the link from the excerpt below.

The G20 protests

Wagging the dog

Apr 2nd 2009
From Economist.com
On the barricades and behind the cameras in London

OUR day of covering the protests starts with a failure: the Whitechapel Anarchist Group, whom we had emailed about interviewing, fail to answer their phone (too busy preparing to spread mayhem if other press reports are to be believed, though their blog huffily decries these accounts). At 7am, the City is quiet. Work traffic is light for a weekday, and my camera-wielding colleague and I are keen to get shots of the City prepared for protests, so set off looking for banks and offices that have shut for the day. HBOS and Halifax both sport locked doors, but security guards prevent us from filming. Frustrated, we head toward London Bridge where one of the marches is due to start.

Seriously: “Send in the Clowns” on Queenzbop playlist (Michelle Malkin)

Another report of how enthralled (had to add this, enthralled = beguiled, filled with wonder and delight) consumers are with electronics offerings from manufacturers. This post is another attempt to raise some issues regarding consumer electronics. Some long standing criticism from this blog toward those who market electronics and control the infrastructure on which much of it is used range from how internet access is manipulated between what is available, offered and how it is priced to similar issues living in other telecom areas like wireless communication. Have you noticed how cell phones are marketed and its relationship to the primary function of telephones. That’s right. Voice communication between humans has long been the need filled by telephone service. Text messaging, chocolate phones, camera phones and all manner of other bells and whistles have relegated speaking to another on the phone as an afterthought. Could it be that spending the money necessary to offer reliable and quality voice communication does not present the profit margin desired by the providers? Could it be the public has once again allowed the market to be driven by the easily manipulated younger demographic with all that loose change to spend being ‘cool’? The manufacturers know it. Ignore the more demanding demographic for the one you can manipulate and who may have the most discretionary income with the most liberal criteria for purchasing decisions.

The ridiculous nature of the coming switch from analog to digital broadcasts is a critical tipping point in electronics related markets that should require no explanation for using adjectives like ‘ridiculous.’ The reasonable method for introducing new products and services by offering value in terms of quality, utility, pricing and other factors has been supplanted by collusion between entities within the public and private sectors in the electronics industry just like the examples found in the current ‘financial crisis’ stemming from the subprime mortgage scheme and lack of regulation and oversight from Wall Street to Main Street to the halls of government.

That is all the angst this blog author can withstand for the current post on this topic. It would be gratifying if the consuming public could muster enough discretion over their buying decisions as an aggregate to apply the needed pressure on suppliers to do the right thing. The vendors certainly won’t do it on their own. But then the same could be said about the public reaction to activity in government. And we all know to well how that usually works out.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Retailers around the country are reporting a slower-than-usual holiday shopping season this year. But 2008 has been a terrific year for those who love consumer electronics - whether they are buying or just looking.

Despite the current economic downturn, large consumer electronics chains like Best Buy are doing brisk business this year

During lunch hour at the Midtown Manhattan outpost of Best Buy, the largest consumer electronics chain in America, the checkout line is 30 people deep and counting. That’s no surprise to Nicholas Thompson, a senior personal technology editor at Wired magazine.

“It’s been a cool year,” says Thompson. “There has been lots of stuff introduced that’s faster, smaller, sleeker, cheaper, better than anything we’ve had before.”

Thompson adds that product design also has improved this year, partly as the result of Apple products.

“Apple makes beautiful things, and these things sell. So now everyone is making beautiful things!”

Wired Magazine editor Nicholas Thompson says that in 2008, the smart money for portable music players is on the Sansa Fuze

One of the new products that Thompson believes deserve high marks for both design and affordability is the Sansa Fuze. It’s one of dozens of handheld digital music players on sale here.

“It’s about $80, which is much less than it would have cost a year ago, [and] you can watch TV shows. You can watch movies. You can listen to music, and you can look at photographs you can put on it, all your little media files.”

Thompson soon heads straight for the camera aisle, where he unhesitatingly picks up a stylish Sony T700. Unlike most digital cameras, which have smallish viewing screens, the entire back portion of the T700 is designed for viewing photos. He says people often put their photographs online, but relatively few people trouble themselves with viewing.

“But if you have a nice screen on your camera, it makes it a lot easier to share your photos with your friends,” he says.

The T700 digital camera has a screen almost as large as a traditional photograph

Another important feature of the Sony T700 Thompson touts is its Smile Shutter technology, which is able to detect when a person the camera is aimed at smiles. It then shoots the photo without the user having to press a button.

Nearby, shoppers are snapping up a surprisingly small and simple looking video camera called the Flip Ultra.

“Video cameras used to cost $300 to $400,” recalls Thompson. “And for a lot of people, all you want to do is take a little video of your dog and stick it on YouTube. And why pay $300 for that?”

In contrast, at $129, the Ultra is relatively inexpensive. It also has what Thompson considers another virtue: almost no buttons.

“Buttons can sometimes be good, but they can also confuse you. This very simple, very nice present for someone.”

“Next in line, please” is a request this cheerful Best Buy cashier calls out hundreds of time a day

Video games are bigger than ever in 2008. Thompson’s favorite this year is the FIFA 09 virtual football game based on the teams in the World Cup.

“For example, say you want to be the United States, or you want to be Brazil,” explains Thompson, “You actually have the simulation of all the soccer players who play on that national team. And if Brazil plays the United States, Brazil wins!”

When this Voice of America reporter asks him just why Brazil is sure to win, Thompson is quick to laughingly opine, “Brazil is better!” He adds that in the football-oriented video games of the past, the players would all look the same

“… and they would kind of run in the same direction, kick as hard, run as fast as each other. Now everybody is an individual,” he says.

Samsung high-end, flat-screen televisions offer images that can be almost too realistic for comfort

Thompson says hard-core couch potatoes who want excitement from their electronic toys without exercise - even of the virtual kind - will love Samsung’s new top-of-the-line, large-screen flat televisions. The store’s demonstration model uses liquid crystal display technology enhanced with light-emitting diodes as backlights.

“The colors are truer. The blacks are a lot better, and it’s much easier to watch for a long time,” Thompson says. “You actually feel like you are in a movie theater even though are just sitting in your own living room.”

Soon, a chase scene from The Dark Knight, the franchise’s most recent Batman film, begins to play on the television monitor. But Thomson says that virtually zooming through the streets of Gotham City at 250 kilometers per hour in the Batmobile - while sitting in one’s own living room at the same time - is only one of the high-tech thrills in store for gadget lovers during the 2008 holiday season.

The Day of Infamy

The attack on Pearl Harbor was the culmination of a decade of deteriorating relations between Japan and the United States over the status of China and the security of Southeast Asia. The breakdown began in 1931 when Japanese army extremists, in defiance of government policy, invaded and overran the northern-most Chinese province of Manchuria. Japan ignored American protests, and in the summer of 1937 launched a full-scale attack on the rest of China. Although alarmed by this action, neither the United States nor any other nation with interests in the Far East was willing to use military force to halt Japanese expansion.

Over the next three years, war broke out in Europe and Japan joined Nazi Germany in the Axis Alliance. The United States applied both diplomatic and economic pressures to try to resolve the Sino-Japanese conflict. The Japanese government viewed these measures, especially an embargo on oil, as threats to their nation’s security. By the summer of 1941, both countries had taken positions from which they could not retreat without a serious loss of national prestige. Although both governments continued to negotiate their differences, Japan had already decided on war.

The attack on Pearl Harbor was part of a grand strategy of conquest in the Western Pacific. The objective was to immobilize the Pacific Fleet so that the United States could not interfere with these invasion plans. The principal architect of the attack was Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet. Though personally opposed to war with America, Admiral Yamamoto knew that Japan’s only hope of success in such a war was to achieve quick and decisive victory. America’s superior economic and industrial might would tip the scales in her favor during a prolonged conflict.

Is there anything good to come of the current and so-called global economic crisis? Below is another report suggesting there might be. Although situations like the current international turmoil invite participants and observers to discard any uncomfortable or distasteful epiphany that results during times like these it is incumbent on the rest of us to keep them alive.

The epiphany suggested above is the revelations surfacing that the rest of the world is to one degree or another dependent on the bad old USA for their economic survival. Certainly the reverse is also true and in a perfect world everyone would cooperate with everyone else. But how often is America criticized by nearly everyone else on the planet? Why is it so often suggested that all the bad in world emanates from the US? This whole global mess dominating the conversation of late may in fact shed some light on how the world really works and what the US component contributes.

Sabre rattling and war mongering are not the least of the complaints expressed and directed toward the US. No one seemed to mind when the US led forces to expel Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi Army from Kuwait. There was a coalition of forces but we all know who carried the largest burden in human and financial risk. No one on the right side of WWII seemed to mind the US supporting Britain in the early years or landing at Normandy or liberating France or anything else right up to the surrender of Germany and Japan. Oh ya, there was the little matter of a couple of bombs and two cities in Japan. That may be criticized now but you can be certain few were raising objections as the war ended.

And how about after WWII, who spent immense quantities of money rebuilding what the war destroyed? After the spirit of cooperation between Russia and the US faded at the end of WWII, who stood as the only nation ready, willing and able to confront the only other true superpower? To this day, all the criticism about the US and military and national security measures employed avoids the very real likelihood that American strength and intervention is quite probably the reason the planet still spins and we are all here to complain about this year’s set of problems and who is responsible for them.

There is little discussion attending to the obvious fact that the reason this crisis is global is due to the fact that all the other countries experiencing financial difficulties participated in how we got here just as much as the US. A fine example in the last few months was China scaling back on purchasing US debt especially that which was or is backed by real estate assets. Can anyone say subprime? Everyone hopped on the gravy train.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is again referenced in the report below as she was in the one here yesterday from the same source, VOA. You can add BASF, a VP from the EU and others to the list. Oh no, on the one hand recipients of orders from US companies as well as international business partnerships will suffer if the US auto industry cannot be turned around and on the other hand propping them up is viewed with disdain as unfair competition. These days on this planet the US simply cannot win. No can please all the people all the time but a little honesty from those who benefit from American resources would be appreciated. If for no other reason than it would be a truthful evaluation.

Sure, the United States makes mistakes and Americans do not always do the right thing. Show me a country and people who do. But for all the good the US has done for others in the rest of the world a little balance between compliment and complaint would make the statements more credible. But then around the world just like in the US all politics is local and much of what is said may be intended for a select audience which resides elsewhere, namely the sources own constituency.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Guenter Verheugen, EU VP of Enterprise and Industry

Sluggish sales and disappearing profits for the U.S. auto industry are being blamed for growing problems around the world.

The world’s largest chemical company, BASF, says Wednesday it is suspending production at 80 plants, affecting about 20,000 workers.

BASF officials say the company is preparing for “tough times” after the auto industry canceled orders on short notice. The German-based chemical giant makes a variety of products used in automobiles, including chemicals used in exterior paint, emissions control devices known as catalytic converters and plastics used in engine components.

BASF also says orders from the construction and textile industries have decreased dramatically.

Meanwhile, the European Union’s Industry commissioner is blaming the troubles of European automakers on the ailing U.S. auto industry.

Guenter Verheugen says the EU should take “extraordinary measures” to prevent German carmaker Opel from collapsing. Verheugen warns if Opel - a division of U.S.-based General Motors - fails, it would hurt the entire European auto industry.

Also Wednesday, Japan’s largest carmaker said it would shutter production at its U.S. and Canadian plants for two extra days in December. Toyota also said it would lay off about 250 temporary workers.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday European officials would closely monitor the type of help the U.S. offers its auto industry, saying she did not want European companies to be at a competitive disadvantage.

Verheugen says any aid to European automakers would be targeted, and not part of a larger, industry-wide bailout.

We are all “bank holding companies” now   (Michelle Malkin)

While the payback for the greed in the subprime market continues to punish US financial markets and some of the perpetrators’ businesses, co-conspirators around the world are experiencing a similar fate. While liberal politicians in America love to criticize the Bush Administration for what they call failed policies including China’s practice of holding America’s debt, Asian financials are beginning to bleed just like those in the US. On news of money troubles in the US, markets in China, Japan, Korea, Australia and elsewhere across the region are duplicating stock market losses on Wall Street.

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Hong Kong stocks tumbled Thursday as panic-stricken investors sold off shares across-the-board amid a raging global financial crisis, forcing the benchmark indexes down for a seventh straight session and to levels not seen in more than two years.

The market in China lost 7% after the American taxpayer bailed out AIG and it lost more than 15% in the previous two sessions. As much as other countries enjoy bad mouthing the US when it comes to finance and greed nations of the world share this common bond of human vulnerability. Markets in Japan, South Korea and Australia lost between 3 and 4% mimicing US losses that exceeded 4%. As far as credit markets are concerned, if those comparing current money woes to the Great Depression look around they will find the entire planet poised to take a beating on past and current practice in investing and lack of discipline.

As the US Fed punishes Lehman but props up Bear, Fannie, Freddie and AIG, Japan and Australia injected billions into the money markets while Chinese money pundits claim their is liquidity available. Now that one of the usual suspects in the subprime scandal puts itself up for sale, WAMU is being looked at by the likes of Citigroup and others who have had their own problems with holding too much bad paper. So much for those predicting the bottom of the financial crisis across the planet. Even though the US has weathered similar predicaments in the past and calls for measures duplicating the response to the S&L debacle of the eighties abound the common concern finds the growing panic focused on how bad, how long and what will this do to me.

One sensible approach suggested in current reports was the need for ailing banks to merge in an effort to shore up weak balance sheets. Misery may love company but the wisdom of this strategy still requires all players to abandon excesses of taking on unlimited risk and returning to practices that resemble the Puritan ethic of hard work and discipline as well as the old fashioned notion of simply doing what’s right. The odds seem very long on that probability.

Bank of America and Barclay’s withdrew interest in aiding the AIG bailout when the Fed refused to guarantee them against failure. But no one seems to mind risking the American taxpayer’s money in times like these. The classic example of Lee Iacocca and Chrysler being balied out by the Fed in the late seventies and eighties cites everything worked out and no one lost. It’s a nice fairy tale but according to the Heritage Foundation, ‘ And so is the myth of the Great Chrysler Comeback of the once dying automaker has become the favorite example cited by proponents of national industrial policy who call for massive and costly federal efforts to revive what they describe as a des perately ailing American economy.’ Sham stock certificates were eaten by holders of record, creditors took losses just like a normal bankruptcy, thousands of workers were laid off and in general the bailout was not a bailout or the perfect story often reported. This may be part of the public opinion guide to be used by observers of the current strategy of government intervention supported as usual by taxpayer funding.

As for the millions facing foreclosure some of the homeowners may not be of the speculator variety. Not that it si possible or even advisable in all cases but there seems to be some wisdom in attempting to right the ship of many borrowers and allowing the chance to repay debt even in the shadow of recent defaults. Besides, the typical scenario of liquidating foreclosed properties to the vultures in waiting may only exacerbate an already tenuous mirage of a remedy. As REOs are unloaded at auction real estate prices of the surrounding properties may also take a hit placing more pressure on falling home prices. The properties as collateral for outstanding mortgages on the remaining stock of homes across the nation are then at least changed in loan to value ratios causing more problems for the banking industry.

But with banks hoarding cash in an attempt to weather the storm finding sources for restructuring home mortgages may just be a pipe dream So like the FED bailing out AIG, allowing the remaining problems to sort themselves out or offering government assistance in the form of taxpayer subsidies or guarantees really offers no insight into how this whole mess will play out. But it would not be a surprise if all the little guys get crushed by the outcome while fat cats like the CEOs and their golden parachutes skate the justice of paying for their sins. Life’s not fair and whatever the final verdict there will be plenty of casualties and plenty of examples of those who were enriched at other’s expense. Maybe more a case of survival of the most sinister rather than the fittest and the whole thing will take longer than we would like to play out.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

By VOA News

Japan has canceled nearly $5 million in aid to Burma over the military’s government crackdown that resulted in the shooting death of a Japanese journalist.

Japan’s Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said Tuesday that the move reflected the present situation in Burma and last week’s U.N. Security’s Council’s statement criticizing the crackdown.

Japanese video journalist Kenji Nagai was killed September 27 while filming the crackdown on protesters in Rangoon.

Officials say the canceled grants - worth $4.7 million - were intended to fund the construction of a human resources center in Burma.

On Monday, the European Union decided to impose an import embargo on timber, gems and precious metals from Burma in response to the military government’s crackdown on demonstrators.

In a statement released after Monday’s meeting in Luxembourg, European foreign ministers said the seriousness of the situation in Burma has made it necessary to increase direct pressure on its military rulers.

They said the new measures are designed to target those responsible for the violent crackdown and will not harm the general population.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the EU would offer economic incentives and support if Burma participates in a U.N.-brokered dialogue with its opponents. But he threatened further sanctions if Burma’s government refuses to cooperate.

U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari is on a visit to Southeast Asia to gather support for political reconciliation in Burma.

Gambari is set to return to Burma in mid-November.

Burmese authorities opened fire on thousands of anti-government demonstrators in Rangoon last month. Since then, authorities have arrested thousands of monks and activists, and many are believed to have been killed.

This series of photos released by the Democratic Voice of Burma shows the sequence of events of Kenji Nagai’s death on the street in Rangoon

By Claudia Blume
Hong KongJapan’s postal service has started to go private and the British Broadcasting Corporation has bought one of the world’s most famous publishers of travel guides, Australia’s Lonely Planet. Claudia Blume at VOA’s Asia News Center in Hong Kong has more on these and other business stories from the region.

Japan’s postal service went private, after more than 130 years of public operation. Japan Post was split into four different business units for managing mail delivery, savings, insurance and counter services. Under a 10-year privatization plan, the units will initially be held under a government-controlled holding company before becoming fully independent in 2017.

The privatization creates the world’s largest commercial bank, as Japan Post has assets of more than three trillion dollars. The Japanese government hopes the reform will boost competition in the country’s banking sector.

BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation, bought a controlling stake in Australian traveling publisher Lonely Planet for about $200 million. Lonely Planet founders Maureen and Tony Wheeler will keep a 25 percent stake. The Melbourne company publishes more than 500 travel guides, and became famous for producing hip, comprehensive travel guides for younger travelers with modest budgets.

Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Company, Tony Wheeler said that Lonely Planet is increasingly expanding into other areas such as Web sites and TV production and needs a partner for this expansion. He said the takeover by the BBC will make the company stronger.

“I think it is going to provide a lot more opportunities for everything within Lonely Planet. We are partnering with somebody who is, we think, a name that is eminently trustworthy and people value it and it’s also a worldwide name, it’s a worldwide operation,” said Wheeler. “So we think we are going with the right people and I think it is just going to provide a lot more opportunities.”

Vietnam Airlines split orders for mid-sized passenger jets between rivals Boeing and Airbus. The airline agreed to buy 12 787 Dreamliners from Boeing in the United States for about $1.9 billion.

In the same week, Vietnam Airlines signed a draft agreement to buy 10 A-350 planes and 20 A-321 jets from Boeing’s European competitor Airbus. The deal is worth about $3.8 billion.

Vietnam Airlines also announced it will start direct flights between Ho-Chi-Minh City and Los Angeles next year.

Tourist arrivals in Nepal went up by more than a third in the first nine months of this year. The Nepal tourism board said more than 250,000 visitors came in the months until September, up 32 percent from the same period last year. Arrivals from Europe and the United States were particularly strong.

Nepal’s tourism sector, one of the country’s biggest foreign exchange earners, suffered during a decade-long Maoist insurgency. The industry started to recover after Maoist rebels signed a peace deal with Nepal’s government last year.

By Heda Bayron
Hong Kong
17 August 2007

Bayron report - Download (MP3) 560K audio clip
Listen to Bayron report audio clip

The global financial turmoil continues, with another bruising trading day in Asia. Analysts say investors are worried the credit crisis in the United States will slow down the economy and hurt Asian exporters. VOA’s Heda Bayron reports from Hong Kong.

The Japanese stock market reeled from another day of heavy selling Friday. The Nikkei 225 index plunged 5.4 percent to close at 15,273 - its lowest level in a year.

There was no let-up to this week’s selling across Asia. South Korea’s KOSPI fell three percent to 1,638. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell as much as five percent before recovering somewhat and closing down almost 1.4 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite index ended 2.28 percent lower at 4,656.

Analysts say investors fear the U.S. sub-prime loan crisis could trigger a slow down in the U.S. economy, which could ultimately hurt Asian exporters.

Japanese exporters such as Honda, Canon and Toyota saw shares drop sharply Friday.

Yoshimasa Maruyama is an economist at investment bank BNP Paribas in Tokyo.

“The Japanese economy is depending on the U.S. economy so today the Japanese market was worried about U.S. consumer spending will go down because of the sub-prime problem and slow down the U.S. economy,” Maruyama said.

Adding to Japan’s woes, the yen reached a 14-month high against the dollar, making Japanese exports more expensive.

Over the past several years, many U.S. finance companies issued mortgages to people with poor credit histories. As U.S. interest rates have risen, many of those borrowers have defaulted, and some lenders have gone bankrupt, creating a credit problem in the United States.

Many investors are selling their shares because they fear the problem will spread to other companies and make it hard for businesses to borrow cash for their operations.

The crisis has triggered global stock market volatility in the past two weeks. Worries of a credit squeeze have prompted central banks in the U.S., Europe, Australia and Japan to inject billions of dollars into the money markets to raise liquidity and market confidence. On Friday, the Bank of Japan injected $10.5 billion into the system.

By Daniel Schearf
Beijing
16 August 2007

Schearf report (mp3) - download 450K audio clip
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The chief U.S. negotiator at the North Korean nuclear talks says negotiators are discussing the “technical procedures” that would eventually be used to shut down the North’s nuclear weapons programs. The talks in the Chinese city of Shenyang are in preparation for the next full round of six-nation talks on ending Pyongyang’s nuclear capabilities. Daniel Schearf reports from Beijing.

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters Thursday he expected the two days of meetings in Shenyang this week to be substantive. But he said they would not yet produce a schedule for Pyongyang’s nuclear disarmament.

“The purpose is not so much to negotiate an agreement today or this week, but rather to identify the technical procedures that can be used to affect disablement, and so we hope that if we can have an agreement on what type of technical procedures can be used, then we can put together an actual agreement,” Hill said.

In February, the six-nation talks produced a broad agreement on North Korea’s nuclear disarmament, and preliminary steps have already been taken. But the painstaking details of identifying and shutting down all of Pyongyang’s nuclear programs have yet to be worked out.

Hill says this week’s working group talks will lay the groundwork for the next full round of six-nation negotiations, which are expected to be held in Beijing in early September. China, South Korea, Japan and Russia are also involved in the talks.

The goal of the next round is a timetable for North Korea to reveal the full range of its nuclear programs, and details on how and when they will be disabled.

Pyongyang in July allowed international inspectors to verify the shutdown of its main plutonium nuclear reactor, the first step in what negotiators warn will be a lengthy process.

The February agreement calls for North Korea to eventually receive a total of one million tons of fuel, other types of aid, security guarantees and diplomatic concessions - as long as it follows its promise to declare and dismantle those nuclear programs.

North Korea’s economy is in tatters, and long-running food shortages have led to widespread malnourishment and death among the population. Those problems were aggravated in recent weeks by flooding that Pyongyang says has killed hundreds of people, and affected up to 300,000.

The United Nations, South Korea and the U.S. are all are considering what humanitarian aid they can offer North Korea.

Not only Life magazine’s most famous photo but probably one of the world’s most famous puzzles is being challenged. Life magazine said after the photographer’s death in 1995 the identities of the two in the photo would remain officially a mystery. Some have claimed to be in the photo before but this time a crack CSI is as sure as she can be that Glenn McDuffie is the sailor in the picture. His story and the effort to determine the truth are both compelling. Maybe Life magazine prefers the mystery.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Man says he’s the sailor in famous photo
By JUAN A. LOZANO, AP
Aug 3, 2:59 PM ET
HOUSTON - Glenn McDuffie has claimed for years that he was the sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square in Life magazine’s iconic photograph of the day World War II ended.

If anyone just looked hard enough, he said, they would see that it was him in the shot.

Houston Police Department forensic artist Lois Gibson took up the challenge. And after what she called a detailed investigation, Gibson said she has concluded that McDuffie, 80, is the man in Alfred Eisenstaedt’s Aug. 14, 1945 image.

The IndUS Business Journal was the source of a search engine result on immigration. However it was the hit’s description that was of interest and the source of the article was only noticed while viewing the result. It is another example of focusing on the plight of prospective immigrants specifically from South Asia with the case made for the sterling credentials, wide variety of success of South Asian immigrants to the US and their contribution in billions of dollars of entrepreneurial startup businesses.

The question that never seems to be asked in stories like these is why didn’t these immigrants have this success in their country of origin? The myth of the global economy based on the words of American business leaders who speak to it is about a race to a goal. While arguing the need for the best and the brightest from around the world and the willingness to extend the American dream to countless immigrants invading the US or outsourcing American jobs to foreign nations, the real objective is nothing so noble.

From the perspective of corporate America, why limit yourself to dominating the economy of just one nation. The economic trend after the world was devastated by WWII resulted in nations like Germany and Japan becoming economic powers in the decades that followed. Each decade brings more and more countries out of the ‘third world’ and into competition with the former world’s leading economic powers. China is probably the most well known current contender to join the ranks of emerging economic powers to challenge the US.

If you are unwilling to challenge the competition with sound principles, truly innovative development in products and services and sincerely foster the human potential in your own country, the ‘global economy’ is a must sell. Abandon the nation instrumental to your success. Convince your government of a false need and betray your country. Attempt to defeat your foreign and domestic competitors by acquiring the foreign labor pool whether the most skilled and educated or those willing to work for less than your own citizens.

This has nothing to do with supporting the tradition of a nation of immigrants. This is all about business. And every proponent has a financial interest that drives their argument. The source of the article accompanying this post is nothing more than a special interest group promoting their own best interest in this economic scam.

Stanford Matthews.
MoreWhat.com

Immigration battle wages; government loses hope

7/13/2007
BY CHRIS NELSON
They are engineers, financiers, attorneys and physicians. They have won Nobel prizes, flown in space and hold executive-level positions at some of the largest and most influential companies in the world.

South Asians have contributed more to America’s economic might than perhaps any other ethnic group, but for those individuals lacking U.S. citizenship or a green card, the question remains — who gets to stay?

In the post-Sept. 11 era, where security concerns have led to tighter immigration policies, the answer is simple — very few. And in most instances, luck is the determining factor over whether one stays or goes.