Chinese Regulator Crackdown - Yawn

China announces crackdowns on piracy and tainted foods and the NYT almost manages to sound sceptical, almost.

“There’s no quick fix,” says Henk Bekedam, the World Health Organization’s top representative in China. “China has perhaps been cutting some corners..." and

“The issue is not whether Chinese businesses are regulated; they are,” says Yasheng Huang, an associate professor at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “The issue is that the regulators themselves are unable to be impartial in the enforcement of the laws. Those laws are meaningless in a system that does not even pretend to have judicial independence, media freedom and legislative oversight.” and

“The problem is these are campaigns and they tend to be turned off at some point,” says Mr. Moses, the analyst in Beijing.

This is out of two pages with expressions like:

"China is taking extraordinary steps to change its image."
“This is a very concerted effort to show they are doing something,”
"Still, even critics of China’s policies have been impressed"
" The bold actions,"
"Still, many experts say China has also become more candid"

This almost sounds like their editorial on trade I picked at previously with little substance and a lot of "hope." If I had to compare their government statements to something it would be BushCo pronouncements on Iraq. While the US government is filled with cronyism, corruption, and political double dealing the communist Chinese government is a typical dictatorship composed not of law but of personality. The effect permeates a system, every little bureaucrat sees himself as powerful and entitled, just as the leadership is. At some point BushCo's lies come back to haunt them, in China if you haunt you do become a ghost. They can lie with impunity and do. GWB is probably terminally jealous.

Sometimes I can't avoid the "made in China" label, but I sure try to. I won't put it in my body or on it if I know about it. I search out tool products to see where they're made. I'm as careful as possible. The COOL label (country of origin label) will be of real assistance if certain powers don't manage to water it down. This isn't about xenophobia or protectionism, beyond protecting myself, it is about not supporting serfdom and corruption and a dedicated enemy.

No, China is not a friend. They are quite capable of taking our money and supporting our debts; just as long as there is a advantage for them in doing so. They may actually fear bans and embargoes from the US and EU, but they also are not going to institute a government of law. That is not happening in a dictatorship - it simply, by definition, cannot.

I used to do the "Buy American" boosterism, now I just want you to be careful.

The NYT Case For Trade

The NYT carries an Editorial supporting trade and whacking Democrats for opposing fast track and free trade agreements with Peru and Panama and states that increases in trade since WWII have added $1 trillion/year (2003 - $s) to the economy and that if the rest of the barriers fell and additional $500 billion. Nice numbers...for somebody.

"The plight of American workers is all too real — and the Bush administration has shown an astonishing lack of concern," shows that the NYT actually exists in the same dimension but their ideas of addressing this amount to band aids. Creating a more progressive tax structure and ensuring that displaced workers don't lose affordable health care may be very laudable policy moves, but do exactly not squat to address job losses. There certainly are some factors that do not involve trade, decreasing union membership and insourced labor (illegal immigration) directly affect wages but the wages affected are still wages, not lost jobs. The loss of skilled labor jobs and manufacturing jobs to near serf labor nations forces workers into lower paying jobs or out of work entirely. Anyone willing to take even a glance at conditions in China must realize the there is no "fair" trade agreement possible with that nation that allows any American business to compete in the same product arena unless Americans are willing to live in a sewer at serf wages. I do not have a magic wand solution of my own, but looking in the wrong direction is scarcely going to generate useful ideas or policies.

Allowing the bottom to fall out of the labor wage base drags the rest of the middle and lower wage bases down creating a situation where work that was the step up out of poverty becomes poverty. But that is not the same thing as creating and maintaining good wage jobs. When the NYT boosterisms Trade even with a caveat about labor the smart thing to do is follow the money. The $1 Trillion has landed in whose pockets? Certainly not labor's.