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August 17, 2007

 

CORRUPTION UPDATES 103

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1) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. After the abstract there's analysis and commentary, links to related articles, and a link to the database with suggested search terms.

Fed cuts discount rate by 1/2 point

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER - The Associated Press
Published 5:24 am PDTFriday, August 17, 2007

http://www.sacbee.com/840/v-print/story/330624.html

The Federal Reserve, declaring that increased economic uncertainty poses risks for U.S. business growth, announced Friday that it has approved a half-percentage point cut in its discount rate on loans to banks.

The action was the most dramatic effort yet by the central bank to restore calm to global financial markets which have been roiled in the past week by a widening credit crisis.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Feds Bailing Out Greedy Speculators

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 17, 2007

This rather large reduction in interest rates has driven the market up considerably today, after a week of heavy losses.

Although a 1/2% reduction in the Discount Rate is large, it will not solve the underlying problems in the credit markets that are causing the stock market to reevaluate morgage securities used as collateral for Hedge fund and bank borrowing.

 

The only thing that will save the morgage securities is for housing prices to continue rising in value. That's not going to happen. The Fed's infusions of cash and lowering of the discount rate will do nothing to restore the speculative bubble in housing, nor will it give clarity as to the actual values of the morgage securities.

Only the real estate market can determine the value of the morgage securities. This is causing a rather dramatic market effect from the different speeds at which the two markets operate.

 

Wall Street, many of who's investments are funded by morgage securities, moves rather quickly. The real estate market, on the other hand, moves at a relatively glacial pace. Wall Street will not know what the morgage securities are worth until the real estate market stabilizes. Sales in the real estate market depend on morgage securities to fund their loans. The interest rates depend on the value of the morgage securities.

Beneth this all are the homeowners, many of whom are holding on to the notion that their houses will maintain their bloated prices. Across from them is a diminishing group of buyers, determined not to buy at the top,so hold on for a long and wild ride.

The problem is complicated, so hang on. The problem started in morgage securities backed by sub-prime loans, but has spread doubt about the value of all morgage securities in the market.

The reason is that once the sub-primes failed, and sub-prime loans dried up, a significant part of the housing market disappeared. The sub-prime housing borrowers and lenders, ceased to operate. This immediatly stopped the rise in housing values across the nation, independent of the type of loans used to fund purchasing.

The housing market was softening before the morgage securities failures. The morgage securities failures defined the top of the real estate market. Now we need to find the bottom.

 

This means that even prime borrowers are seeing the values of their recently purchased homes fall below the price they paid. This has caused defaults to spread from sub-prime morgages to the holders of prime morgages. The drop in housing values and the rise in defaults means that the actual value of existing morgage securities consisting of both prime and sub-prime morgages have dropped, and nobody knows what they are actually worth.

 

Although the Fed's cut in interest rates stimulated the equities market, it does not address the cause of the downturn, which lays in the real estate and loan markets. There are two factors which will eventually determine the value of morgage securities, which will be the only way to stabilize Wall Street. The first, and most important, is the level of home sales prices and sales activity. The second factor is the amount of credit that will be available, and the rate of interest that will be charged for it, after the market accuratly assesses and balances the assets and liabilities of the American economy.

The value of morgage securities will only be determined when the real estate market stabilizes. This will only occur when housing foreclosures moderate, home loan rates stabalize, and the real estate market determines the real, sustainable, value of housing, and the the level of sales activity the market will support.

If the housing market continues to lose value, and sales continue to stagnate, the value of morgage securities will continue to be uncertain, if not be under serious downward pressure. The credit crisis will deepen. If this occures no amount of Fed interventions will prevent the various markets from falling precipitiously.

If housing prices and sales remain reletivly stable, the financial wizards of Wall Street will quietly comb through the morgage securities, reevaluating this mass of debt significantly downward, to reflect the decline in housing values, the defaults, and the loss of expected future profits.

This loss of value will require that all borrowers who used morgage backed securities as collateral for their loans come up with additional collateral to cover the loss. This is where the credit crisis deepens, as the collateral for past loans loses value, and the costs of future loans rise.

If housing continues to fall, as I expect it will, there is significant risk of a sustained global downturned in economic activity. Our valuation crisis has the potiential damage global markets and bring down unstable foreign markets. Failures in Asia or South America could cause further credit problems here. The problem could riccochet around  the world, causing a cascading failure of credit markets. But nobody knows.

This is where we are right now, between doubt and fear. Uncertainty and instability will characterize the markets until the real estate market stabalizes.

This is why the Fed's pumping the financial markets with cash, and dropping the interest rates are periphreal to the central problem, which is the uncertain value of real estate, and financial activities backed by real estate.

The Fed cannot stop the market from reevaluating housing, and consequently the value of all assets based on housing. This means we are experiencing a general reevaluation of American assets and liabilites. This reevaluation is reverberating around the all of world's interdependent markets.

The Fed's actions did one important thing: They infused confidence into the equity markets. The Fed clearly and firmly told the world that they are on the job and responding as necessary to stabilize American credit markets. But everybody knows the problem is in real estate.

11-24-07: Update of Economic Conditions

Also See:

Corruption Updates 36, 7th article on the page,  "More in U.S. plunge deeper into poverty"

Corruption Updates 45, 8th article on the page,  "Income Gap Is Widening, Data Shows"

Huffington Press, "Auto Sales Plummet"

Corruption Updates 61, 8th article on the page, "Home Sales Climb, but Prices Plummet"

Corruption Updates 81, 8th article on the page, "Bear Stearns Staves Off Collapse of 2 Hedge Funds: Billions in Worthless Loans Ready to Hit Market"

Corruption Updates 83, 8th article on the page, "Report on Amaranth Collapse Is to Be Made Public"

Corruption Updates 84, 6th article on the page, "Hedge Fund:$3.2 Billion Move by Bear Stearns to Rescue Fund"

Corruption Updates 93, 1st article on the page, "Bear Stearns Says Battered Hedge Funds Are Worth Little

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Asian Stocks Slide Again Despite Late Wall Street Rally

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 7:33 a.m. ET, August 17, 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-World-Markets.html?ref=business&pagewanted=print

LONDON (AP) -- European and Asian stocks slid again Friday amid persistent fears about subprime mortgage lending troubles in the U.S. and its potential affect on the global economy.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 fell 0.31 percent to 5840.50, as the benchmark index has lost 12.5 percent in the past month. France's CAC 40 index lost 0.43 percent to 5243.050 and Germany's DAX index was down 0.56 percent to 7229.510 as stocks failed to take a lead from a late rally on Wall Street on Thursday.

Some Asian markets saw early bargain-hunting, but began falling across the board on a worldwide selloff that has lasted more than a week.

''The fear factor has overtaken people,'' said Song Sen Wun, regional economist at CIMB-GK Research Pte. Ltd, but said cooler heads may prevail as early as Monday.

''Whether this is a case of blind panic remains to be seen,'' he said.

In Japan, a further fall of the dollar against the yen, which hurts Japan's giant exporters like Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Corp., sent the Nikkei 225 index crashing 5.4 percent to end at 15,273.68, its lowest close in a year.

Hong Kong's blue chip Hang Seng Index fell 1.4 percent, and the Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 3.2 percent after dropping 6.9 percent the previous session.

China's shares, which had been hitting new daily highs recently, fell for a second day Friday. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended down 2.3 percent at 4656.57 points, adding to a 2.1 percent loss the previous day. The Shenzhen Composite Index fell 1.6 percent to 1297.21.

Credit Suisse Chief Strategist Shinichi Ichikawa said any bad news ahead, such as a bank abroad faltering, could worsen the market jitters.

''The next couple of weeks will be a very tough time for global financial markets,'' he said.

U.S. stock futures faltered Friday as investors nervously eyed the global declines. Although Wall Street had a late recovery to finish mixed Thursday -- with the Dow Jones Industrial Average Thursday closing down just 16 points after falling more than 340 points during the day -- there was little conviction in the market that could allow it to build on that momentum.

Earlier Friday, Japan's central bank injected 1.2 trillion yen ($10.5 billion) into money markets -- the third injection this week and triple the amount it injected the day before -- in a bid to curb rises in key interest rates.

Central banks in the U.S., Europe, Australia and Japan have injected tens of billions of dollars into money markets since Aug. 9, when stocks tumbled because of worries over U.S. subprime mortgage problems. So, far the extra money, meant to ease concerns about a credit crunch, has been unable to halt the global selloff.

A weaker dollar led some stocks down, as a lower dollar hurts Japanese and European exporters by reducing the value of their overseas earnings when converted back into local currencies. A weak dollar also makes Japanese and European exports more expensive abroad.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Asian Markets Plunge on Friday

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 17, 2007

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A rush to pull out cash

THE MORTGAGE MELTDOWN

Worried about the stability of mortgage giant Countrywide Financial, depositors crowd branches.

By E. Scott Reckard and Annette Haddad

LAT, August 17, 2007

 

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-countrywide17aug17,0,5212161,full.story?coll=la

-headlines-business

From the Los Angeles Times

Anxious customers jammed the phone lines and website of Countrywide Bank and crowded its branch offices to pull out their savings because of concerns about the financial problems of the mortgage lender that owns the bank.

The rush to withdraw money -- by depositors that included a former Los Angeles Kings star hockey player and an executive of a rival home-loan company -- came a day after fears arose that Countrywide Financial could file for bankruptcy protection because of a worsening credit crunch stemming from the sub-prime mortgage meltdown.

The parent firm borrowed $11.5 billion Thursday by using up an existing line of credit from 40 banks, saying the money would help the lender meet its funding needs and continue to grow. But stock investors, apparently alarmed that the company felt compelled to use the credit line, sent Countrywide's already battered stock down an additional 11%.

At Countrywide Bank offices, in a scene rare since the U.S. savings-and-loan crisis ended in the early '90s, so many people showed up to take out some or all of their money that in some cases they had to leave their names.

In West Los Angeles, a Countrywide supervisor brought in from another office served coffee to more than 25 people waiting calmly for their turn with the one clerk who could help them.

Bill Ashmore drove his Porsche Cayenne to Countrywide's Laguna Niguel office and waited half an hour to cash out $500,000, which he then wired to an account at Bank of America.

In a statement, the bank said: "It is very important to remember that Countrywide Bank is well capitalized, with FDIC-insured deposits, and is one of the largest banks in the United States, with assets over $107 billion."

Countrywide recently was funding about $40 billion a month in mortgages. Of those, about half qualified to be sold to Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae, and half were "nonconforming" loans the agencies don't buy, including sub-prime mortgages to higher-risk borrowers as well as jumbo loans, which account for 43% of all mortgages issued in Southern California.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Credit Crisis Expands to Panic Run on Bank

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Australia central bank confirms forex intervention

By V. Phani Kumar

NYT, 5:33 AM ET Aug 17, 2007

http://marketwatch.nytimes.com/custom/nyt-com/html-story.asp?guid=%7B50CFF77B%2D4DB7%2D4188%2D8777%2D76A0DE524738%7

D&siteid=NYT&dist=NYT

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Australia's central bank Friday confirmed that it intervened in the foreign exchange market on the previous day, for the first time in six years, to restore liquidity, according to wire service reports.

Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens told a parliamentary hearing that the central bank intervened due to a "disorderly" market.

"We don't typically signal intentions about intervention ahead of time... so I prefer not to speculate about the future," he said, according to wire service reports. "On occasion where market conditions are disorderly, we are prepared to intervene from time to time."

Reports said the size of the RBA intervention was small.

The U.S. dollar rose 2.7% to A$1.2937 and the Australian dollar fell 3.3% to 87.43 yen.

 

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Credit Crisis Roils Foreign Exchange Markets

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August , 2007

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Fund’s Request for Redemption Halt Denied

By REUTERS, August 14, 2007

 

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/Reuters-Sentinel.html?ref=business&pagewanted=print

NEW YORK, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Sentinel Management Group Inc., which oversees about $1.6 billion in assets, will not receive help from a commodities regulator to stop clients from pulling out their money, a move that could lead to big losses.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Tuesday it had no authority to grant Sentinel's request to block client redemptions.

"We have no role in whether or not the company does this and whether the client accepts this," a CFTC official said.

Sentinel of Northbrook, Illinois declined to comment. But in a letter this week, the investment firm warned clients that a redemption panic could trigger a forced liquidation of securities at steep losses.

...money segregated for customer positions totaled $1.53 billion, the report said.

Most major U.S. banks and brokerages act as FCMs, including Merrill Lynch affiliates and Morgan Stanley, which reported more than $8.2 billion and $4.3 billion, respectively, in customer funds, according to the CFTC's June report.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Credit Crisis Spreads to Commodities Trading Firm

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August , 2007

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Goldman and Investors to Put $3 Billion Into Fund

By JENNY ANDERSON

NY Times, August 14, 2007

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/business/14goldman.html?pagewanted=print

Goldman Sachs announced yesterday that it along with a group of investors would inject $3 billion into the firm’s Global Equity Opportunities Fund, a flailing quantitative hedge fund that lost about 30 percent of its value in a week.

The bank’s flagship Global Alpha fund, which once topped $10 billion, more than doubled its losses in the same week. As of Friday, the fund was down 27 percent for the year.

The move by Goldman and the investors — including C. V. Starr & Company, which is led by Maurice R. Greenberg, and the investor Eli Broad — indicates the severity of last week’s shifts in the market as well as the potential for significant losses for other hedge funds.

The pain for hedge funds and banks has been broad, starting in the mortgage market, spreading to the wider credit markets and ultimately the stock market.

The problems have been worsened by the debt that hedge funds have taken on and used to invest to amplify gains.

The casualties have included investment banks like Bear Stearns, which witnessed the collapse of two hedge funds that were invested in mortgage-backed securities, and blue-chip quantitative funds, whose computer-driven trading models did not anticipate recent market movements.

Goldman put in about $2 billion while C. V. Starr, Mr. Broad and others invested about $1 billion, leaving Global Equity Opportunities with more than $6 billion and half its original debt.

The investment is a remarkable event for Goldman, which more than any other bank on Wall Street has aggressively pursued its hedge fund strategy. It has concentrated on two units: using its own capital on its proprietary trading desk, a strategy it has followed for a long time, and using money from its high-net-worth clients and institutions like pension funds and endowments to build hedge funds within its asset management group.

Global Equity Opportunities, known as GEO, as well as North American Equity Opportunities, known as NEO, and Global Alpha, a multistrategy fund, are all within the asset management business, which has $151 billion in assets invested in alternative investment strategies and $758 billion over all. GEO and NEO use quantitative strategies that rely on computer programs to buy and sell. Global Alpha is a multistrategy fund but one of its strategies is quantitative equity long-short, so it has been hit in much the same way as the other two funds.

With the 27 percent decline, Global Alpha, often referred to as Goldman’s flagship hedge fund, has about $7.2 billion under management, down from more than $10 billion at its peak.

Redemptions in the fund are quarterly, and Goldman will know by the end of the week whether investors intend to pull money out because of the fund’s poor performance.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Another Major Hedge Fund Folding Up

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August , 2007

 

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Economics

 

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Asian markets trim losses in late trading

By Andrew Wood in Hong Kong

FT, Published: August 17 2007

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/60c9554e-4c62-11dc-b67f-0000779fd2ac.html

Asia-Pacific stock markets ended their worst week in nearly a decade with further falls. Some markets opened slightly higher after a late turnaround on Wall Street overnight encouraged financial stocks in the region.

But any optimism soon evaporated, and the trend for the day looked firmly downward during the morning as the week’s credit-crunch worries persisted. Tokyo posted its biggest percentage drop since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, with the Nikkei dropping 5.4 per cent.

Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore however bounced back from their lows with strong rallies in the afternoon that narrowed losses considerably and Bangkok was even up more than 1 per cent at the close of trading.

Indian shares suffered too, catching up with the worries that have beset the rest of the region. The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex 30 index sank as much as 4 per cent before rebounding in the afternoon session. At one stage, Infosys Technologies was 11 per cent lower at Rp1,745 and ICICI Bank was 2.6 per cent lower at Rp806.

Hong Kong was one of the worst performers in the morning, but the Hang Seng’s losses narrowed in the afternoon. By late afternoon, the index was 1.38 per cent cent lower at 20,387.13.

In Singapore, the Straits Times Index fell 1.5 per cent, to close at 3,104.97. Reuters reported that the stock exchange suffered technical problems in the afternoon session. Dealers said trades were taking 7 to 10 seconds to be executed after being keyed in.

Australian stocks started the day higher, but the trend for the S&P/ASX 200 was downward during the day. The benchmark index closed 0.71 per cent lower at 5,671.00.

 

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Asian Markets Plunged, Worse Week in Years

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August , 2007

 

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Europe’s Bank Lends Another $10.5 Billion

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NY Times, August 14, 2007

 

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Europe-MarketJitters.html?ref=business&pagewanted=print

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- The European Central Bank injected another $10.5 billion into money markets on Tuesday and said conditions were normalizing after several days of volatility.

European stock indexes fell after posting sharp gains a day earlier.

The 7.7 billion-euro offer from the ECB -- much smaller than cash infusions during the previous three trading days -- brought the total amount lent since Thursday to 211 billion euros ($288 billion). Major central banks around the world have also provided extra funds, but on a smaller scale.

With cash reserves running low, banks refused to lend to each other and interest rates that banks charge each other rose well above the 4 percent level set by the ECB.

 

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Central Banks Unable to Dictate Loan Rates in Face of Credit Crisis

 

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Tuesday:

US stocks fall on renewed jitters

US shares have fallen again, with problems in the mortgage sector continuing to have an adverse effect on market sentiment.

 

Story from BBC NEWS, Published: 2007/08/14 21:09:22 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/6945348.stm



The Dow Jones closed down 208 points or 1.6% at 13,029. The more technology- based Nasdaq index fell 43 points or 1.7% at 2,499.

The falls came despite the Federal Reserve saying it would inject more funds into financial markets if needed.

Central bank action

To ease fears over available credit, sparked by the downturn in the mortgage sector, the Fed has already pumped billions of dollars of emergency funds into the banking system in recent days - twice on Friday and again on Monday.

The European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of Japan have made similar moves.

On Tuesday the ECB injected another 7.7bn euros ($10.4bn; £5.2bn) into the markets but said that conditions were returning to normal.

Wall Street's falls knocked European stocks, with London's FTSE 100 closing 1.2% lower and Frankfurt's Dax falling 0.7%.

Nervous investors

The news that Sentinel Management Group, which manages $1.6bn in funds, wanted to stop investors being able to withdraw their money did nothing to improve the mood.

The day's biggest faller was Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, which fell 5.1% after lowering its profit forecast because its customers are straining under economic pressures such as high oil prices.

Also down sharply was another retailer, Home Depot, which fell 4.9% after warning that its profits would fall this year as a result of the sluggish housing market.

 

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Markets Crashing on Tuesday


 

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Bogus Diabetes Test Strips Traced to Chinese Distributor

By BLOOMBERG NEWS

August 17, 2007

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/business/worldbusiness/17fraud.html?ref=todayspaper

&pagewanted=print

A global hunt started by Johnson & Johnson has tracked to China some counterfeit versions of the test strips used by 10 million Americans to measure their blood sugar levels.

Potentially dangerous copies of the OneTouch Test Strip sold by the company’s LifeScan unit surfaced in American and Canadian pharmacies last year, according to federal court documents unsealed in June.

Tipped off by the company, the Food and Drug Administration issued a consumer alert without disclosing the link to China.

The investigation found that a distributor in China was the source of about a million fake test strips that have turned up in at least 35 states and eight countries. The trail, initiated by calls to a LifeScan hot line, led detectives to 700 pharmacies where the products were sold, then to eight American wholesalers, then to two importers. One importer was in the United States and was found in a Las Vegas hotel room.

Records seized from the importers showed that the counterfeit strips were bought from Henry Fu and his company, Halson Pharmaceuticals, which is based in Shanghai. Mr. Fu was arrested by Chinese authorities and remains in prison in China.

LifeScan markets a variety of strips under the OneTouch Ultra and OneTouch Basic Profile names. They sell in the United States without prescription for about $1 a strip.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

China Trade Kills

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 17, 2007

Ban China Trade until Labor, Environment, and Safety Standards are Assured

Originally written for Corruption Update 79_2, on June 19, 2007

Banning the China Trade for health and safety reasons would be almost impossible, as we have moved a lot of "our" manufacturing there. And it would by hypocritical, as we have gutted health, safety, and labor standard here.

That is exactly why it is critical that we ban the China trade. Banning the China Trade is the only way we are going to restore product safety and decent working conditions for workers here, and in China.

Presently, we have a government that is incapable of protecting us from any threats, domestic or foreign. Our government has been throughly bribed to encourage, create and protect the irresponsible and unsafe trade that enriches their corporate sponsors.

Our government, and the free trade policy of both parties, better represent the Industries that bribed them than the American people.

Our corporations, with the close assistance of our government, have enriched themselves by embracing China's authoritarian state, its abusive labor policies, and its massive abuses of the the environment.

Domestically, The FDA, EPA, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission are in exactly the same condition as every other executive branch agency: Gutted and under funded. These agencies are run by industry hacks and lobbyists from the industries they are charged to oversee.

Industry has paid dearly to be irresponsible. Their bribes sit in virtually every politician's pocket, independent of their party affiliation, or regional origin. The result is that Industry has been deregulated, and the safety of our people has been comprimised by political corruption and bribery.

The products of industry, including the products of foreign industry, are only subject to volentary regulation which they enforce on themselves. This is much worse than having the wolf run the henhouse. This is the same as if the wolf bribed the farme hands to feed him the chickens. The farm hand is the government, and the chickens are us. The betrayed farmer is our Constitutional government. The result of having a government by bribery are policies like globalism and free trade, regulated by the wolves themselves.

The only way to stop our corporations profiting from screwing labor, the environment, and poisioning everybody that consumes anything, is to ban the China trade, and start from scratch. Craft new trade treaties that protect American manufacturing. Initiate trade only when every product made in China is made under verifiable conditons that protect labor, the environment, and the end users of the products.

These standards must be required of every country that does business with the US. If they do not meet reasonable standards for labor, environmental, and safety, cut them off. Period.

Yet is ridicilious to believe that our corporate government will do a damn thing. Before reasonable Health, Safety and Environmental standards could ever be estabished with our trading partners, we will have to establish and enforce them here.

That will not happen here until we the people take back our government from the corporate mafia that has bribed it into submission.

The biggest bribers are not satisfied with the government subsidized foreign laborers they use against us here, but have gone to China to enrich themselves with extra profits gleaned from escaping the few health, welfare, and environmental protections we have here. Their profits are based on killing, disabling, and screwing workers in China, and poisioning end-users here.

The extra profits earned from the China Trade come directly from screwing the environment, employing brutal labor standards, and avoiding every chemical health and safety regulation that common decency requires. I imagine a chunk of that money falls into the campaign coffers of our corporate politicians here, completing the cycle of corruption and death that sustains them.

Politically, our government and business communtiy seem to work well with China's government. They have no trouble ignoring the serious human rights abuses of the tyrannical government running China, while they mutually enrich themselves in that abusive country.

The buisness abuses here and in China eminate from the same source. Both governments have slipped out of the control of their people. Both governments mutually form policies that abuse the rights and steal the wealth of their citizens. In China's case the China trade must stop until China grants basic human and civil rights to its citizens. This would require they give up the power to arbitrairly arrests, torture, unfairly try, and swifty execute their citizens.

In our case, the US should be prohibited from engaging in any foreign trade until we also renounce arbitrairy arrest, illegal detentions, torture, and endless detention without judicial review. In addition, the US must be forced to renounce unilateral invasions, the first use of nuclear weapons, and interefering in the domestic affairs of other sovereign nations before being allowed to engage in foreign trade.

The reason our government gets along with China so well is because both governments are dedicated to the same goal, and use the same means to achieve that goal. The goal is to control the Wealth and Power of their respective nations. The means are monetary corruption, bribery, backed by violence.

Unfortunatly, our government and corporations have more affinity for China's government than American citizens.

 

NEW CHINA LINKS PAGE

Also See:

Corruption Updates 59, 3th article on page, "F.D.A. to Test Toothpaste Sent to U.S. From China"

Corruption Updates 36, 6th article on the Page, "China about to pass U.S. as world's top generator of greenhouse gases"

Corruption Updates 41, 9th article on the Page, "China jails editor for subversion"

Corruption Updates 55, 7th article on the Page, "China Tells Little About Illness That Kills Pigs, Officials Say"

Corruption Updates 59, 3th article on page, "F.D.A. to Test Toothpaste Sent to U.S. From China"

Corruption Updates 59, 7th article on page, "Chinese Police Arrest 28 in Riots Against Family Planning Laws"

Corruption Updates 60 , 8th article on the Page, "China: Recall Is Issued for Frozen Fish"

Corruption Updates 67, 5th article on the Page, "China: When Fakery Turns Fatal"

Corruption Updates 77, 5th article on the Page, "Thomas the Tank Engine Toys Recalled Because of Lead Paint"

Corruption Updates 79, 2th article on the Page, "As More Toys Are Recalled, Trail Ends in China"

 

Associated Press, July 17, 2007; China: Tree Stands, Toddler Shoes Are Recalled:Globalism and Deregulation Killing Health, Safety, Wages: Irresponsibility Made Profitable by American Trade Policies

 

Corruption Updates 103, 10th article on the Page,  Bogus Diabetes Test Strips from China

 

AP, August 2, 2007; Fisher-Price to Recall Nearly 1M Toys: China killing American middle class, Children, and Environment

 

AP, August 7, 2007; Seafood From China Wasn't Screened: Ban China Trade until Labor, Environment, and Safety Standards are Assured

 

LA Times, August 14, 2007; Mattel recalls more Chinese-made toys: China Trade Untrustworthy: Massive Mattell Recall

 

AP, August 3, 2007; Consumer Agency Given Leeway to Act: Neutered Agency Given temporary Balls

NY Times, August 23, 2007; U.S. Is Checking Dog Treats Wal-Mart Says Are Tainted. Links

 

Bee, September 9, 2007; Investigative Report: U.S. ships unsafe products: American Product Safety Regulations Kill People Here, and Around the World

 

NY Times, September 12, 2007; More Studies Cast Doubt on Safety of Diabetes Drug

China trade Kills, yet again: Don't trust any drugs in the US. Between chinese poison and FDA corruption, the public is screwed, NYT, February 16, 2008

 

78 US deaths from china's poison, nyt, 4-10-08

china: passed us as biggest polluter, negates all western co2 reductions, bbc, 4-15-08

 

NEW CHINA LINKS PAGE

Essays

Our Chinese "Friends" are Autocratic Dictators who we are Empowering With Trillions of Dollars of Irresponsible Manufacturing and Trade Profits, alex, 3-13-07

Ban China Trade until Labor, Environment, and Safety Standards are Assured, alex, 6-19-07

China Catches up with West: It's 1984 in China, Alex, August 12, 2007

 

Search the Corruption Database under

China (52 Abstracts)

 

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