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china is trying hard to increrase its consumption and reduce dependence on exports. However, its doubyful. Chinese govt can force people to export the items, however its difficult to force people to consume
Getting people to consume is not really an issue. Getting them to reduce savings (and so consume even more), however, is a challenge. And one which is not going to be effectively addressed without some means to assure people that they can safely save less. Which is to say, that there is some kind of safety net (whether reliable private insurance or government-provided) to cover unexpected personal financial disaster.
Once China has that, and the Chinese find its reliability believable, personal savings rates will drop and consumption will rise. Probably not to the rates in the US -- which will be a good thing. But rise significantly nonetheless.
China's saving is not led by households; rather, it is dominated by firms, which save vast hoards of cash deposits at government owned banks.
Firms either self-finance their investments, or finance them by borrowing from state owned banks (where the cash itself comes from the savings of other businesses).
The reason? Undeveloped financial markets. Most businesses don't have easy access to credit lines, to overdraft facilities, to trade finance, etc. And if you want to avoid a liquidity-led-insolvency, you need 6 months of cash in the bank (plus contingency for any hoped-for new investments, purchases, overseas orders or expansion).
Not only are financial markets underdeveloped on the credit side - businesses don't suffer any pressure from shareholders & creditors to offer a good return on investment, and so businesses feel comfortable sitting on vast hoards of cash. Simply, the Chinese banking system is heavily regulated and rations credit creation by bureaucratic criteria rather than expected return - which results in very low (often negative) real interest rates in Chinese capital markets (for most of the past decade - not just since the start of the crisis).
If China's government wants less saving/ investment and more consumption, it will help to deregulate finance a little. Even without partial deregulation of finance, rapidly rising wages & unit labour costs will probably see labour's share of GDP (and therefore the consumption share of GDP) rising somewhat over the next decade.
But should China really follow the behaviour of the West? It is much smarter to wait until the West shows how it can handle the debt crysis. Or else China will end in the same mess.
And even more important the West should answer why a looser fractional banking system is important? Does it really matter, whether the companies borrow from a state bank, which prints its money in a fractional banking system, or from a private bank, which you will allow to print more money (euphemism: "deregulation" / "more flexible" financial market)???
What's in question is the efficient allocation of capital, and competitive pricing.
China has an even bigger investment bubble, and even more bad debt, than Ireland or Spain had before the financial crisis. It just hasn't popped yet.
In many ways, China's financial system is superior to that of many Western countries - while in the west we strongly favour consumer credit over business investment (massive tax distortions such as corporation tax & withholding tax, plus additional regulatory compliance costs), China has the balance far more in favour of business investment (which is better for productivity growth & other positive externalities).
China also benefits from lower levels of leverage & beefier equity.
Yet, China needs far more transparency and competition in its financial sector, better allocation of capital and wider availability of business credit & finance facilities (especially for small businesses & market entrants). The west, on the other hand, broadly needs more stability, and fewer of the distortions that shift finance from investment to consumers.
The financial crysis in the US, the UK, the Euro-zone (Ireland, Spain, Greece, etc.) is an argument against a deregulated "(in-)efficient" private financial market, where banks can grow so big that the government has to bail them out for their horrible malinvestments.
A looser fractional banking system only give private banks free liquidity, which isn´t backed up by real securities and equities. Without scarcity there will never be a working allocation system.
Private markets also tend to follow a herd behavior and procyclic investments, which results in gigantic bubbles like NewEconomy or house market bubbles.
China on the other hand can use effective anticyclic measueres, if it is necessary.
Regarding small businesses & market entrants Chinese economists should learn from the French experience. The French economists recognized that their private financial market doesn´t invest in such areas at all and therefore try to copy the German state(!) bank system with the "Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau" and the smaller state banks like Investitionsbanken, Sparkassen, Volksbanken at the moment.
There isn't any such thing as a deregulated financial market - US, UK, Irish & Spanish banks are completely bound up in regulation, a large part of which has contributed to the concentrated market structure (enormous barriers to entry), excessive employee compensation, excessive risk taking promoted by government guarantee, etc.
What is clearly necessary are different regulatory structures. In particular, much of today's bureaucracy in China promotes very bad investments (& bad debt creation) in infrastructure and state owned firms, where there is enormous potential for higher yielding investment elsewhere. China's present system encourages the state to buy enormous hoards of foreign reserves, rather than allow businesses to invest in higher yielding overseas assets (which exacerbates instabilities in the US & Japan).
What all banks (and businesses, and households) do in a procyclical manner, is leverage up during low volatility or high growth, and deleverage during rough times. The fact that China's bureaucracy allowed less excessive leverage is more accident than design; there is little in China that would inspire confidence of China as being any less susceptible to leverage build up over the next decade than the US or Brazil over the past decade.
The German KfW and Scandinavian sovereign wealth funds all present very interesting models for financing new business models & start ups; the US venture capital models and vibrant activity in Silicon valley is also very interesting. There are aspects in these capital markets that more countries need to adopt - we need far more high-risk investment in novel & experimental activity with potential for massive payoffs, disruption & higher productivity growth. Yet, as always, there needs to be transparency, accountability, and focus on maximising expected returns (whatever the model or structure pursued).
There isn´t something like free markets, because there will be always laws. Do you see the problem with your statement? Nevermind rather let say that there is no necessarity for "more deregulated" financial markets.
Regarding the regulations of the banks in the US, the UK and Spain you missed several points. First of all the market entry for banks wasn´t the problem since the European and US-American banks tried to reach into each others markets at that time. Second it is difficult to believe that employee compensation was a big deal for the trillions of mailinvestments. Third of all there was no such guarantees in Spain (or Ireland as another case), while in the US nobody forced the banks into these investments. And even then this wouldn´t explain something like the NewEconomy bubble.
The Chinese bureaucracy on the other hand didn´t lead the economy in the same bad debt crysis like the West. Ironically the NewEconomy, the house debt bubble, etc. were once called high-yielding investments. By the way the Chinese state funds usually DO observe the returns and the government actually tries to buy some profitable foreign companies and equities.
The less excessive leverage actually is part of the government´s plan. Didn´t you read the articles about the introduced restrictions in the infrastructure area here at The Economist? And of course the KP can force their banks to loan during a recession (remember the last financial crysis?) or to stop loan during a boom, which is a great anticyclic tool to prevent depressions and overheatings in despite to the Western system, where the governments have to hope for the goodwill of the private banks to pass the central bank rates.
The European-German model is based on better long term and broader results for SME, while the US venture capital funds usually are short-term investments. The risk-taking character of some US funds are indeed really interesting - however this isn´t something, what China cannot emulate with special state banks.
"Yet, as always, there needs to be transparency, accountability, and focus on maximising expected returns (whatever the model or structure pursued)."
That is true. But the Western system completely lost this idol and follows virtual short term share values.
Maybe it is my fiscally conservative mind, or just a lack of grasp of economic theories, or both, I fail to see how savings versus spending money you don't have is a bad thing. This on the level of each spender that contributes to an economy and the resulting aggregate that is a nation. I am not looking for a partisan argument, just an exchange of views and opinions.
I make no attempt to defend the financial system as it stands in most western countries - there is obvious need for deep disruption & reform in every country.
I would argue (as many have) that excessive compensation levels (and especially obscene bonuses based on very weak short term metrics) played an important role in the pace & size of recent bubbles, and continues to preserve enormous rent seeking activity, slows down recapitalisation and prolongs the malaise in the US & Europe.
I would argue that many barriers to entry, and legislative barriers against productivity enhancements (e.g. AML makes purely online banking impossible) have preserved deeply damaging cost structures (trillions of dollars/euro in premium real estate across every major or minor urban centre, alongside payroll that makes productive sectors of the economy weep). The mess of bureaucracy & legislation has preserved excessive bid-ask spreads and commissions in everything from currency exchange to stocks/ bonds.
I would very much like to establish non-for-profit entirely automated online trading houses for currencies, electronic trading in government bonds, simple automated "bank accounts" backed entirely by government bonds, etc. I'd like to see open investment interfaces in which all investments must be performed through sets of publicly visible value probability distributions and liquidity calls rather than through direct trading. This isn't hard to do technically - indeed, I could easily write systems far more secure than those used by highstreet banks (simply by using best practice cryptography libraries rather than broken systems that are decades out of date). But if I did this, I would go to jail.
Rent seeking activity today is mostly a consequence no competition. Only bloated insiders (all with the same structural flaws, and all dependent on even smaller numbers of investment banks & trading houses) are allowed in the game.
China's banking system has merits - I agree. But it is also less developed and provides far fewer services to Chinese businesses & households. That is a problem, and will probably need to be corrected if China wants to enjoy West European or American levels of per-capita income.
China's banking system is presently controlled for leverage & reserve ratios, but those controls are weakening and do not extend to households or businesses. Even insofar as these controls are available, I sincerely doubt that they will be exercised to contain overheated growth & rising leverage. And whatever the mandatory ratios, we should never underestimate the power of crashing bubbles & multi trillion bad debts to wipe out what accountants reckon to be fat equity or reserve buffers. The very high investment share of China's GDP, combined with rapidly rising wages and growing credit (even if it is mostly between businesses), suggest to me that underlying leverage is growing fast and likely to grow faster over the next decade, even if that is hidden from accountants by high property valuations.
It is surely possible for China to liberalise its banking sector enough for the provision of new services (finance, insurance, currency hedging, commodity hedging, stock trading, bond issuance for small businesses, etc), and for more competitive allocation of capital, without necessarily repeating too many of the mistakes of western finance.
I can't really see a banking system anywhere in the world that I'd want to hold up on a pedestal - there are deep flaws everywhere. Which is a nice thing in a way - we have so much to improve on. If we can get this right, the future will indeed be more prosperous and more egalitarian.
I think that the issue isn't whether the Chinese people should adopt the American model of spending money that they don't have. (Clearly they shouldn't. But then, neither should so many of our fellows have done so.) It is whether they need to continue to save for even remote contingencies, because there is nothing else to rely on. Or whether China can develop some form of insurance (private or social) so that each individual does not feel the need to save for every possible outcome (rather than just for reasonably foreseeable ones).
For example, the chances of a tornado or (hurricane or flood) destroying my house are tiny. But they are not zero. So I take out insurance to cover the possibility of my house being destroyed . . . but I do not feel it necessary to save the entire cost of replacing my house myself. In China, absent an insurance industry, each individual has to at least try to save enough to cover that possibility. Similarly with every other sort of risk that life might hold.
Some saving is, I quite agree, desirable. But China currently has too much of that good thing. And if they can develop some form of risk sharing, they can tie up less money in self-insurance, and thus have more to spend.
Thanks much for this, Jouris. I really appreciate it.
A friend, a Wharton man, talked about starting an insurance business in China 30 years ago, perceiving that there was going to be a gigantic market as China's economy caught up and its citizenry began to meld their lifestyle with that of the "West". Clearly his percpetion about this "void" was valid at the time and way ahead of time. The discussion took place between him and a top management person of Prudential. My friend was Chinese and the Prudential man was American. I always wondered what happened to that conversation. I have an inkling the concept of "insurance" has gone farther than a nascent stage at this time in China, but then I am very uninformed about what's happening in that arena. I do know some barriers might still exist in terms of paying a sum of money to insure for an eventuality that might not happen. It is rather complicated once "culture" or a way of thinking in a "culture" is invovled. Meantime the aide I hire to help me take care of my parent has more savings in the bank than I do. She is rich but works like a horse doing rather menial work, and she is 60 years old. I am not complaining about her. :)
I think one of the changes that will be needed in China (as I understand the situation; I am far from an expert) is in improvement in the strength of contracts and the rule of law. Insurance relies on the belief that the company with which you have a policy will actually pay off. Which means that contracts (e.g. your policy) must be legally enforcable.
If the law is seen as depending mostly on connections, rather than on what is written, who would buy insurance? Similarly, if the government is providing insurance, there has to be a general belief that the government will do what it says it will. I suppose you could sell insurance policies based elsewhere (Hong Kong, perhaps?), where there is a stronger legal framework -- however that might make for a harder sell. But once those hurdles are crossed, then an insurance market could really take off.
There are already over 100 insurance companies operating in China, with ~60% domestic and 40% foreign. The two biggest Insurance companies such as China Life and Ping An are actually listed oversea. China Life alone has over 1 trillion yuans in capital (I am actually a share holder, but it is in red, darn).
That said, the insurance industry in China is still in their early stage. Chinese are just not accustomed to insurances due to their recent short contact with capitalism.
It is also a cultural/security feeling. Overseas Chinese in North America also have very high saving rates comparing to their North American counterparts, where there is no issue with rule of law. They are just more conservative, as the Koreans and Taiwanese.
We agree on the intentions of the reforms, but not on the means.
The short-term based bonus system was/is indeed a big problem. But this is a linguistic misunderstanding between us. I thought you mean state regulatory actions like civil laws for social securities, worker´s compensation, insurance etc., Otherwise I concur with you.
There may be some over regulations, but I am not sure, which specific reforms of the anti-money laundering legislation would do more good than harm. (There is a reason why it exists in the first place.) In addition to that effective competition is more a problem of transparency than of over regulation in this area.
I like your idea of such a transparent platform. The problem of online trading houses, however, are their size, which triggers mismatch problems – and I doubt the established institutions really want that much of competition. There is no fast solution for this or the state would have to force the financial institutions to introduce such a joint platform because everyone is afraid to lose to the next "finance-Amazon".
True. But the game is already lost for the masses in the West. One can only hope that there are some real philanthropists outside - or that a new generation of societies are able to challenge the current order.
I disagree. The only problem is the SME sector, which can be solved with special state programs. Household credits only make sense for house-building, which already exists, and not for consumer goods. The Chinese education system like many European system doesn´t need that much of college debts. The Western per capita income is based on some special effects. 1. The US has the global reserve currency, which allows them to boost their living standard without the same productivity. 2. The West also live in the money illusion caused of the wealth spread. If the upper-class would use their wealth, it will automatically trigger inflation and will decrease its value.
I know money theory. It is nearly inevitable that one day a debt crisys in a debt money system occurs. The only solution for a long-term debt crisys is to revolve the debt to the central bank and to stop it flowing from household to state to companies to private banks and backwards, while maintaining the inflation rate through reserve ratios. Greenspan, Abe and other countries like the UK should look into the work of Fisher, Keen etc and consequently buy the debt from the state, households, companies and private banks back now. In such a scenario it would be better that most bailed-out private institutions were state institutions from the beginning.
You may doubt that the Chinese government would use the tools, but with their Keynesian policies during the finance crash 2008 and their current restrictions of the house market it, they proofed they actually do.
But the most of the "deregulation", "liberalization" and "reforms" proposals usually are directed at these short-termed non-control solutions. Better bond market – yes! The Chinese government already experiment with it. But why should they introduce the Western style stock market, where virtual share values rule? Or why should they introduce a more open private insurance, while the best health insurance programs are nationalized like in Europe? Why do they need short-term interested hedge funds, while family companies like Japan are more stable? Why do they need currency, when they can have 100% control over their currency? Why should they open commodity hedge to the "atomic bombs" derivatives system of the West?
My preferred replacement to AML would simply be:
1) require banks to disclose all balances in all accounts, and all transactions taking place between accounts (implemented with a simple & secure API that banks must hit on every transaction)
2) require banks to reveal reported identity of individuals (which may or may not be accurate; yet only individuals correctly reporting their identity actually have a legally enforceable claim to the contents of an account)
3) make deposit insurance something that people have to buy from government, connected to a particular set of accounts, and disclosing identity in the process.
That's simple enough. Informal trading can still take place as at present; tax avoidance can still take place as at present; drug dealing can still take place as at present. Yet, the data provided by the above 3 measures would be far more useful than the status quo for actually combating illicit activities, while completely opening up banking to online provision (without the formal requirement for checkbox ticking, face-to-face identity verification, etc).
Many other areas of banking regulation also need to be abolished (e.g. requirements for anachronistic formal training & certification of human beings to various roles that really ought to be automated). Like the requirements for "qualified" and appointed professionals to personally sign off on various types of transaction (a job creation scheme for overpaid bureaucrats & professionals). Etc.
Many financial activities desperately need to be regulated - agreed. But they need to be regulated effectively and with minimum collateral damage. Most of today's regulation has no bearing on those activities. It is all designed to protect the vested interests of large established banks, preventing competition between established banks and also preserving entry of startups. Most existing financial regulation needs to be eliminated - for productivity growth, prosperity and for reduced rent seeking & reduced inequality.
(Entirely separate from the above, I would rather that many "illicit" activities become entirely legal, with government focussing on incentives/ motivation rather than criminal sanctions to combat drug use, dog fighting and similar. And a comparison of Scandinavian countries to Mediterranean countries demonstrates well, it is the simplicity and absence of holes in the tax system that really matters for killing fancy accounting and actually collecting revenue.)
Why ever are you so pessimistic about masses in the west?
In case you hadn't noticed, standards of living in Western Europe & the US are far higher than anywhere else on the planet.
Subjectively, I would also claim that they are higher today than ever before. Sure, real median wages (by official deflators) have fallen over the past decade in most places. But life expectancy has risen by 3 years or so in the past decade (across Western Europe & only slightly less in the US); in most developed countries, recorded crime is at lowest rates since modern records began; and so much is available for free today (the whole internet... so many education resources, health resources, entertainment, etc, none of this consumption or investment counted in GDP because there are no transactions).
We've never had it better in the west. And it's incomparably better than anywhere in Asia (except South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong & Japan... which are usually referred to as "western" anyway).
With fantastic new opportunities - online retail (even replacing pharmacists), automated road vehicles, robotic surgery/ dentistry, online court systems, entirely-online-banking, etc, average standards of living are set to grow fantastically (even in the west) over the next few decades.
Some of these changes could happen already (especially online pharmacy & banking; especially far greater cross-border online retail), if government would eliminate the bureaucratic constraints that protect the greedy & wealth-destroying established insiders.
Disclose to whom? Everyone? Government? No privacy issues? Too be honest I am no expert in this field and therefore have no clue about the legislation of the deposit insurances, qualifications and AML in the US. However some of your suggestions remind me of the mass surveillance and the transparent man (Gläserner Mensch) debate in Germany, when the government gave fiscal authorities the possibility of examining personal bank accounts - only worse.
I believe that the European dynasties, who has hundred years and more old experience about banking, only try to scam the Chinese officials. They will use the paper-printing banks to create massive bubbles and depressions. They will buy into the media to control the uprisings. They will hype "their" capitalist princelings to take control of provinces. They will ultimately lead the Chinese into a trap, if the KP rush the deregulation of the markets.
I am not pessimistic, but I question the goals of the Western (and Chinese/Asian) elites. I see the achievements, I also see the lies and illusions. The US were capable to hide the development of the atomic bomb. (And of course this rocket movie by S.K. or the false flag issue at the beginning of the last decade.) There are few, who knew everything, and many, who believed that they worked for something completely different at the Manhattan project. What if all this is a doubled fraud, where even the middle men are betrayed in the end? Are we ruled by altruistic elites, who sadly believe that there have to be sacrifices for the greater good? Or by egoistic ones, who only toys with the "plebs"? As a simple lazy peasant I cannot perceive the plan and therefore stay sceptical. It´s as if one live in a massive lie, but cannot judge the motives and reasons of the liar.
When I was a kid, an old man told me that if I really want to know the truth, I will have to climb onto the top of this world - but will lose everything else on the way up.
What lies there? Is it worth? To climb all these ranks?
Clearly, transactions and cash possessions (so far as efficiently possible) must be disclosed both to tax authorities and to law enforcement authorities. This is similar to the declared objective (but not the result) of AML legislation.
The biggest bubble and depression of the past half century didn't take place in a capitalist country - it took place in the build up to the Soviet Union's collapse. Russia:
& Ukraine:
Just 25 years ago, Russia and Ukraine together produced over half the world's steel, over half the world's concrete and more than a quarter of global electricity generation (though thanks to the Afghanistan conflict, this vast & fertile territory was also dependent on food imports from the US). A few years before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine actually had good roads, higher levels of car ownership than today, better diets, better healthcare, etc.
Economic growth and activity in the Soviet Union was sustained by suppression of consumption, a very high savings rate and very high investment rate - most investment going into infrastructure which would never achieve returns on investment. Most economic activity (all the steel, concrete, fundamental science, technical education and heavy engineering) just wouldn't have been fundable in a market economy. Admittedly, the Soviet Union had far more fundamental economic flaws - only those members which joined the EU (plus Russia, thanks to oil & gas) have really recovered.
China's present economic trajectory is far less stable than Europe's or America's. China's economy is built on institutional suppression of consumption and very high levels of investment, much of it hard to justify (though, mercifully, a large portion of investment takes place through international exporters and other globally competitive manufacturers of tradeable goods - which suggest ability for rebalancing towards consumption).
China's economy needs to rebalance - cautiously. Given that investment comprises somewhere between 40% and 50% of China's GDP, just a 20% fall in investment activity (the type of outcome that becomes inevitable in a recession) would directly eliminate 8-10% of GDP (with a large multiplier effect on consumption - investment does not so much competitive with as complementary to other economic output). One hopes that in such a Chinese financial collapse, net exports would be sufficient to rescue the economy - there is such a high intensity of internationally competitive exporters. Even that is in question though - much of China's export activity depends for competitiveness on cheap capital (ability to raise finance with low yielding debt). Without that, and especially with any political instability, it wouldn't be clear what China offers over Romania, Ukraine, Egypt, Mexico or Thailand.
The depth of distortions (many of them not positive) in China's financial system are deeply disturbing. China has the potential to implode in a manner that would make Greece look like a holiday.
That isn't an argument for preserving the status quo - that would merely guarantee steadily rising pressure (an ever growing stock of bad investments, and growing dependency of GDP on bad allocations of capital) that guarantees even more trauma in future.
When an impartial observer examines China's financial system and sees liberalisation as necessary, it isn't reserve ratio or equity controls that need to be reformed. Nor does China need to allow high frequency spot markets in every kind of financial product. But China's government needs to impose far more conservative valuations on the assets that state owned banks are buying up/ funding; China's government needs to allow banks to invest in businesses without discrimination based on bureaucratic criteria (state owned business? exporting business? infrastructure? connections to local CCP members? etc); China needs to change laws to facilitate restructuring of ownership structures for public companies, encouraging higher dividend payments and pursuit of higher returns/ more efficient use of capital.
And besides that, a wider range of financial products are necessary to allow smaller businesses to compete with the giants (small international traders are very vulnerable to currency risk, when they sign trade contracts in euro or yen but wage contracts, leases & debts in yuan.), etc.
jouris, thanks much much for your reply again, for your taking the thought and the time. I am sorry due to lack of time I wasn't able to get back to you sooner. At this writing, I haven't read the other posts on this thread. This reply strictly speaks to the points you made in your response to my post to you.
Regarding the enforceable contract Q. Yes, I believe you are right in what you observe. The notion of reliance on language written on a piece of paper replacing reliance on a person's "word" continues to be a culturally alien one, although it is attaining importance as business transactions come to involve increasingly complex components previously uncontemplated As things go, the "word" is still given uppermost importance between parties to a transaction. This is the cultural origin of the importance of "connections" in a traditionally people-oriented culture – the presumption is a person you trust, or trusted by another person you trust, is a preferred person to do business with, as that person is less likely to sell you out. The idea, ludicrous as it is to a "Western" mind frame (and mine as well :)), is that your paternal uncle who was the former math tutor of your closest maternal cousin whose son attended the same high school as your best friend's daughter and they all are neighbors in the same vertical village and go to the same hair salon and use the same veterinarian must be more trustworthy than a total stranger you've never heard of. So it is more likely you'd enter into a business transaction with that known person than a stranger. Built into this presumption, one adopted mutually , is the guarantee that when a breach of trust occurs, it will be the last; as the breaching party will forever be branded and shunned by the rest of the business community, or, at a minimum, the other uncles, aunts, math teachers, alumni of the high school, neighbors in the same village, patrons of the same hair salon and vet, and then the salon owner and doctor vet him/herself. "Trust through connections" in this sense works quite effectively as the "insurance" against nonperformance of a Good Faith promise implicit in all contracts, written or unwritten (there are oral contracts outside the Statute of Fraud), enforceable or unenforceable.
Regarding the challenge of the insurance industry in China, I believe you are right again. As trade is no longer confined to transactions within-region but is increasingly between-regions and now global in nature, insurance must be integrated as a part of doing business. No connections would cover such a large circle that everyone in it could possibly know everyone else and performance on contractual obligations can be enforced by the force of "connections" alone. Incidentally, when the event insured against is Nature or "trust in Nature", all concede the breach there is of a different kind. There no "connections" can influence Nature. Thus the shipping business operated by the magnates in HK and Taiwan has long used Lloyd's of London since my forefathers' generations. The challenge faced by the insurance industry, I believe, lies in penetrating the mindsets of small business owners and home owners which comprise the larger market. There one may still encounter folks like my parent's aide who would rather keep her money in the bank than pay into an insurance plan for coverage for an unforeseen or unforeseeable event. Totally hard to understand, but there she is.
Thank you for the information you provide. I just picked it up. Very helpful indeed.
It´s similiar, because the debate over the abuse of such information was part of the German AML and tax avoidance legislation.
Russia´s and Ukraine´s collapse had other reasons than the investment / consumption ratio. The collapse was induced by a sudden fall of demand (investment + consumption) and the following degeneration of production factories/services.
The Soviet Union was designed as a connected and interdependent economy. When Gorbatschow decided to dissolve the SU, the trade partner of every member country suddenly were in political turmoil or chaos. Even worse the World Bank and the IMF decided to break the rest of the production capacities, when they implemented the "shock-therapy". A program, which forced the states to open their markets to the West, to sell core industries as oil, gas, water etc., and left nothing but an oligarchy, mass corruption and hungry children and women, who roamed the streets for food, back. The sudden decline of the demand side, the sellout of resources and the production would have fucked up every country. There was much criticism how all this was handly even by former World Bank employees like Stitglitz.
Talk with an older Russian or Ukraine and the person will tell you that the aftermath of the Soviet fall in the 90´s was an economic disaster. It wasn´t comparable to the situation in the Soviet Union.
Look at the situation, which Putin inherited from Yeltsin. (And look when Russia began to recover and when Putin took over.)
The better economic situation of the ex-Warsaw pact member and new EU members is easy to explain, if one knows how the EU development funds and subventions work and how the NATO military basement strategy is. In addition to that the most succesful countries Poland and the Czech Republic are all part of the West European industry sphere, which looked for cheap labour and now dominates their industry sector.
Every big country has the potential for a big collapse. What would have happened when the US lost its global reserve currency status, because the OPEC states decided to trade in gold? Look at the US trade deficit.. And will happen if consumption in the US would fall 20%? The problem of investments and consumption decline is a problem of demand. As long as the KP is able to control the money and with it the demand flow, nothing big will happen.
I agree with you that a more conservative valuation is necessary. Germany made the mistake to replace its HGB rule with the IFRS approach. And efficiency is always good.
On the other hand I have to dismiss your view of "restructuring of ownership structures for public companies", which is at worst an euphemism to sell out state goods. The sum of the Chinese SOE´s are profitable. Many pulic companies like electricity supply, water supply etc. usually have a natural local monopoly anyway, which means that there won´t be more competition and more return automatically results in higher prices for the public, which is counterproductive for maintaining the public mood calm.
Dividend payments is a double sword. If you take the money out of the companies, they usually have less money for expansion and investments, but the management is encouraged to hold the costs low. It´s nothing bad although, but in combination with higher returns strategies, it usually translates into short term return huntings at the cost of other important areas like market share, liquidity or technology.
The KP controls the Chinese currency. How can there be a high currency risk? Just gave the general direction of the currency out. Even for the small chance of sudden changes your proposal has nothing to do with SME´s. The UK for example has a wide range of (many useless) financial products. Still their SME´s sector is underdevelopd compared to the EU average:
If the KP wants to help the SME sector, they shouldn´t "hope" for a private financial market miracle, but subsidize the SME´s market entrants, advisories and credit conditions.
A country who thinks that they can defy free market principles in a fast moving global world with their planned economic model is vulnerable. It succeeded with an export model with the headwinds of rampant consumption in the West. They realize that it is not sustainable and now wants to adopt a domestic consumption model. Reforms to underpin this new model are slow and hampered with vested interests. Besides, they are behind in technology and innovations and demography not in their favor. The grand bargain with the populace that their standards of living shall improve with tolerance of less liberties is weakening. Let them brag while standing on fault lines of implosion and at best below potential growth.
I understand how busy things can get. Many (although apparently not all!) of us have many other calls on out time besides reading comments on the Economist.
I would hope that you would read some of the other comments here as well. It is always necessary to allow for the different perspectives of the writers (witness how vigorously they disagree with each other), but many of them can provide other valuable information.
I think that there is also some merit in being ale to believe that you can trust the word of the person you are dealing with. Written contracts are useful when dealing with complex situations, and those involving many people or large organizations. Especially when (as is common in insurance policies) the agreement can span many years. But if we reduce everything to "only hwat is written," our society is far poorer for it.
Also, to some degree we rely on the trustworthyness of organizations that we are dealing with, even when we have written contracts. Being able to resort to legal enforcement is a safety net; but it is one which works best if it is rarely necessary to invoke it. Even in those cultures which have long been comfortable relying on government for last-resort enforcement of contracts, a company (or person) which forces those it deals with to go thru legal proceedings is going to lose customers -- or even one which just insists on unnecessarily complex contracts, and then uses the complexity against customers. Reputation is still important, even here.
"I would hope that you would read some of the other comments here as well. It is always necessary to allow for the different perspectives of the writers (witness how vigorously they disagree with each other), but many of them can provide other valuable information."
Totally. Totally. That's really in the final analysis what I read TE blogs for. I spend about 4 times more time in reading the comments than writing. If I write all the replies I would like to write, I would be writing all day.
I hope I did not miscommunicate. I was not saying contracts are not important in the business environment that is developing. Doubtlessly it is important. I was merely saying it will take time for the culture to fully adopt/integrate it in small/smaller businesses in the event of nonperformance. As yet, there is still a lopsided reliance on the word and a mentality that bets on bad things are less rather than more likely to happen.
Yes true, but dare i say it even in uk part of the judegemnt is on reputation of the company as partculary with smaller claims for most people its not worth a legal action, and even our legal system is somewhat clanky with an aystmetry between company and most private indudiuals in respect to access costs knowledge and contract,. So transaction as in any buiness based on part on trust of the other party. So even with a lousely system if a proper insurance company trusted and paid may be overcome part of the weakness in the system. But may be that is just being navie dont know.


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Since September 11, the Bush administration, in the name of fighting terrorism, has imposed dozens of police-state policies and proposed many more. Among these liberty-killing policies:
Expanded surveillance over ordinary people
Domestic spying by the CIA
New definitions of terrorism so broad they could include millions of political activists
The return of Know Your Customer (the anti-privacy regulation Americans thought they had defeated more than a year ago)
Requirements that *every* business report customers who spend a "suspicious" amount of cash
Detentions without charges
Military tribunals without the protection of the Bill of Rights
Federal eavesdropping on conversations between prisoners and lawyers
A serious proposal for a national ID system with a giant database that, from its inception, would give anyone with access information about your movements, income, purchases, and investments
In addition, the CDC has asked the states to adopt "emergency" health care measures that would authorize government to do everything from seize your property to subject you to forced vaccinations.
Alleged "civil libertarian" Alan Dershowitz has called for issuance of "torture warrants." As Senate hearings, Charles Schumer made the first official demand that the FBI's (illegal) records on gun buyers be used to track and identify a segment of the population. (This was noted by former CNN anchorman, Reid Collins and ignored by the rest of the media).
And at recent Senate hearings, Attorney General John Ashcroft proclaimed that ANYONE who warns that the administration's actions threaten liberty is aiding terrorists.
(How long, we wonder, before people like us have our assets frozen or end up in secret courts?)
Yet the majority of Americans have so far accepted these blatant threats to liberty without a peep of protest.
THE SCOOP for November 14, 1996 Who Shot JFK? And Why Should You Care?
(C)1996 Bob Harris
[] = italics
["I absolutely believe that Lee Oswald was the informant on the arrest
of Lawrence Miller and Donnell Whitter on November 18, 1963."
-- Marina Oswald Porter (Oswald's widow), in a 9/17/96 letter to
the Assassination Records Review Board demanding all FBI files on the arrest]
Just for fun, try reading several conspiracy books simultaneously, ten pages each at a sitting.
Guess what? Kennedy was killed by a machine gun burst from a jittery Secret Service agent... but only after being paralyzed by an umbrella-launched poison dart and shot by his limo driver on behalf of the Saucer Nazis.
It's like Tom Clancy on Space Cake.
One theory even says Dallas was part of an arcane Masonic death ritual. The proof? Well... there are 33 levels in Masonry. And Dealey Plaza is a trident-shaped intersection at the 33rd parallel, near a triple underpass beside the Trinity River.
Let's see... I'm 33 years old, and I chew Trident gum. The Trident missile is really big, and so is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar... who wore [number 33]. Coincidence? [I think not!]
History is so much more fun when you make it up.
Compared to all that, the official version sounds possible: Lee Harvey Oswald, an awful marksman with no motive and a defective rifle, caused seven entrance wounds with only three bullets. Oswald then escaped by catching a city bus, only to be murdered in police custody by [another] lunatic acting alone.
According to polls, only about 15 percent of you folks buy that one. Twice that many believe in witches, and ten percent think Elvis is still alive.
Thirty-three years later (hey, maybe it [was] the Masons), should we still care?
There's no need for parlor games. We have archives and libraries and the right to see the internal record of our past. You'd be surprised how much is available.
For example, declassified documents prove that the FBI only gave the Warren Commission stuff that reinforced the shaky case against Oswald; other leads were quietly ignored when they weren't destroyed. The media was leaked the same garbage, regurgitated it, and has fought for credibility on the subject ever since.
Think that can't happen today? Two words: Richard Jewell.
See, good JFK research isn't about catching some grassy knoll gunman or kickstarting Camelot. It's about revealing stuff that's still happening today: CIA covert wars, FBI political surveillance operations, domestic propaganda exercises -- all explained in government documents. No theories needed.
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to believe Tom Brokaw.
Right this minute, the Assassination Records Review Board is expediting the release of classified Kennedy stuff. There's some stonewalling -- on Oswald's Naval Intelligence file, for example -- but, combined with earlier releases, over a million pages are now public.
Some really sharp needles are in that haystack:
*Not only did the CIA have operational counterintelligence files on Oswald before the assassination; the FBI's files on Oswald start in 1960, and Jack Ruby was an FBI informant on black market activities as early as 1959.
*In November of 1963, some CIA-financed Cuban exiles in Dallas and New Orleans were preparing to attack Cuba. To muffle dissent, an earlier CIA companion op targeted the leftist Fair Play for Cuba Committee. That's the group Oswald pretended to join.
*Some of the Cubans' black market weapons came from a militia-type gun ring, who stole rifles from Texas military armories. One of their fences was apparently Jack Ruby.
*Just before the assassination, two of these gunrunners were arrested by the FBI, thanks to a tip. Who was the informer? Re-read Marina's statement, above.
*Bang, bang... The "magic bullet" and shells at the scene were from a fairly rare type of ammo admittedly owned by one of the gunrunners.
*The CIA's anti-Castro guys instantly alerted the media to Oswald's (false) ties to Cuba, demanding retaliation.
After that, a festival of ass covering: Ruby killed Oswald, the FBI denounced them both as lunatics -- incidentally defusing the CIA effort to blame Castro -- and LBJ created the Warren Commission to pacify public outcry for a real investigation.
Simple, really.
Remember, this picture is forming [in the internal record].
The ARRB's mandate expires next year. It was created solely as a response to public demand, and it will press for the release of U.S. history only as long as the demand continues.
Call your Congressional Representative and holler. Thirty-three times if you have to.
Bob Harris is a political humorist who has lectured at over 275 colleges nationwide. He's also the co-author of the CD/ROM [Encyclopedia of the JFK Assassination].
To hear The Scoop in neato RealAudio, visit www.webactive.com/webactive/yeah.

subset: commoncrawl


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Next weekend isn't just the last Saturday before the start of the college football season. No, it's also the weekend that everyone's favorite weekly conversation returns. That's right -- Sunday With Bill will make a triumphant return in exactly seven days.
Y'all have been clamoring for it to come back and despite being a busy man of late, your man Bill has carved out some time to spend a couple hours on Sunday evening answering questions and talking some Longhorn football and recruiting.
We had to break the BON budget for the year to make it happen, but it was only a small sacrifice, even though I won't be able to get my lifesize plush Bevo replica. Next year. Next year.
So, starting getting your questions ready and clear out your schedule next Sunday evening, because Bill is back.


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Meh. Charlie Crist, former Republican governor of Florida and perpetually orange in tan color, is now a registered Democrat. Seriously now… who didn't see this coming? Especially since he had a high profile speaking slot at the Democrats' Convention this past summer? Some are even saying this latest party affliation conversion of Crist's is just the first move in a highly anticipated announcement that he will run for governor again trying to unseat Republican Rick Scott in 2014. YAWN.
As far as I'm concerned, Charlie "I'm Orange" Crist is the poster boy for why politicians are considered lying, dishonest scum bags only interested in promoting themselves while squeezing the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness out of We the People. So he became a democrat. He's still unpopular. Good luck with that governor's race Charlie. DLTDHYOTWO.
Great Weekend Blog Reading Links!
Teach at Pirate's Cove is blogging about Jim Geraghty's plan for blue states to pay their "fair share" in a blog post called "Soak The Blue State's Fiscal Plan″. Go read it.
The Other McCain has up a great blog post on the hating and missing of Andrew Breitbart. It's a must read.
Phineas at Sister Toldjah is remembering Pearl Harbor – then and now.
Professor Jacobson at Legal Insurrection has up a post on "The progressive deification of Elizabeth Warren has started". Unbelievable.
Emily at NakedDC has a blog post up on Former Congressman Alan Simpson putting an end to Gangnam Style. Um, thank you sir.
Quickly turning into one of my favorite blogs, The First Street Journal has a post up about infamous Rule 5 in blogging — Haute couture!
Jammie Wearing Fool has up a great blog post on how the Union Goons reacted as Michigan became a Right-to-Work State. I'm sure you can imagine.
Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit has up a post on "Terror Leader Mashaal: Hamas Will Never Recognize Israel". Go read it.
Dan is blogging at Reihl World View on "Jennifer Rubin's Moronic Blathering Smearing Heritage and DeMint". It's a must read too.
A good post is up by Jonn on the defacing of the Iwo Jima Memorial at Quantico at This Ain't Hell blog.
Aunty Brat at Assoluta Tranquillita has an amazing post up about Eleanor Roosevelt and Pearl Harbor. It's a must read!
Michelle Obama's Mirror has up a fun post called "It's an honor just to be nominated. I'd like to thank my dog…". Go Read. Now.
Instapundit has a lot of good blog reading up including FIVE NEW ADDITIONS to the Habitable ExoPlanets Catalog. LOL.
Erika Johnsen is blogging at Hot Air on "America's energy boom: To be, or not to be?". She has an interesting graph demonstrating oil and gas extractions over the last twenty five years.
Doug Powers has up a great post at Michelle Malkin called "Filibuster reform: Reid vs. Reid". LOL.
neo-neocon has up a number of good posts today but the "Obama: "I won't compromise on taxes" is a must read!
and finally, Andy at AofSHQ has up an Open Thread on Season 4 of Justified – which starts January 8th.
Have a wonderful weekend!


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What's new about the new Actros.
Increased economy. Greater comfort.
Enhanced safety equipment.
More payload.
With the new Actros Loader and the new Actros Volumer we have implemented two sector-specific vehicle concepts which will quite simply allow you to operate more profitably when it comes to payload-sensitive or volume-oriented haulage. "Lower weight, more payload" is the motto of the new Actros Loader. It was specifically designed to meet the requirements of payload-sensitive sectors and is one of the lightest trucks in long-distance transport. In contrast, the Actros Volumer is visible evidence of how semi-trailer tractors and platform vehicles should be built today to make high-volume haulage particularly profitable. It scores many points for its enormous transportation volumes, its powertrain configurations that help to save fuel and its increased range.
More cabs.
The number of cab variants available for the new Actros has risen to eleven, thanks to four new variants. They are the CompactSpace cab, with a flat roof and engine tunnel height of 170 millimeter or 320 millimeter; and an extra variant for both
the StreamSpace and the ClassicSpace cabs, each with a 320 millimeter engine tunnel variant. There are also more stowage possibilities available on the engine tunnel to make it easier to keep things in order.
New engines.
The range of engines available for the new Actros has been extended thanks to two new displacement classes: the Euro VI*) in-line engines will in future also be available with 7.7 liter and 10.7 liter displacement. Together with the 12.8 liter Euro V and Euro VI engines which have been available up until now, this gives 13 power bands**), from 175 kW to 375 kW.
*) Standard from 1 October 2012.
**) Euro V and EEV only available for 310 kW, 330 kW and 375 kW.
Higher economy.
The optionally available, innovative Predictive Powertrain Control system integrates an additional mode to the automatic transmission system that adapts to the topography of the road ahead: drawing on satellite positioning technology and a 3D map, the system identifies the road ahead and any upcoming inclines and reacts accordingly by optimising gear-shift points and cruise control speeds in anticipation of these topographical changes. This can result in additional fuel savings of up to 3 percent. And in addition to the "economy" driving program, there is now also the "fleet" driving program to support an economical driving style.
Greater safety.
The fine-tuning between the engine, powertrain, suspension, steering and braking systems makes driving in the new Actros a unique experience. The truck reacts directly, dynamically and precisely. Two new safety systems round off the driving dynamics package. First, the braking assistance systems have been further improved and now have the version designation Active Brake Assist 3*). Through emergency braking, the system can autonomously mitigate the consequences of a rear-end collision or even prevent it altogether. Second, a new Attention Assist system is optionally available. Its sensors can detect driver inattentiveness or fatigue on the basis of steering movements and other data.
As soon as it confirms that a risk situation could occur, warning visual and acoustic signals are given.


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Shopping for school supplies has never been so sweet. SHOP
Happy National Lemonade Day! Shop these zesty lemon cupcakes. SHOP
The only snappy thing allowed at your party is this lobster. Personalize your party favor with a hand-iced message. Shop Summer now!
Thank you so much for your support of our UES store - stay tuned for bigger locations!


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"I fired the gun." Those were the words spoken Friday by a Grand Island murder suspect. However he claims the shooting was in self-defense.
The judge issued a stern rebuke to lawyers and witnesses, saying he will not allow this to be characterized as Sudanese versus Somalis.
Judge James Livingston told jurors to look only at the unique circumstances of this case.
Arkanjelo Kot took the stand, where defense attorneys asked about his childhood in a nation at war.
At age six he fled his village in South Sudan, spending 18 years in refugee camps.
He first settled in Phoenix, working as an airline baggage handler.
Meat packing brought him to Grand Island, where his cousin was murdered and he was shot in the foot back in 2009.
In the months that followed, Kot said he was threatened by associates of the men who shot him.
Those men are known as "Big Mo" and "Blackie", or Mohammed Abdulkadir and Abdi Mohammed, respectively.
They were apparent gang members but the judge did told the jury to disregard that.
Judge James Livingston said he would not allow terms like "homie or bro" to be used and "my vocabulary has exhausted itself."
The judge struck his hand on his desk, saying witnesses and attorneys needed to refer to individuals, not groups.
Walid Omar Aden was acquainted with the men involved in the 2009 murder.
So when Kot and Aden ran into each other at a Pump & Pantry store, things escalated. Aden allegedly called Kot a "snitch" for testifying.
Kot said in his words, "I fired the gun" during a dispute at the convenience store.
Kot had gone to cash in lottery tickets, and ran into Aden and two others. They used sexual and racial slurs against him, including the n-word.
Kot said he was angry, and went back to his car to get a gun. He claims Aden threatened him, saying he had a gun, so Kot said he believed he was going to be killed.
Hall County Attorney Mark Young pointed out inconsistencies in the story and questioned why he waited to tell police.
Instead Kot talked to several members of the local Sudanese community first.
On a side not, Kot said Friday his uncle was former NBA star Manute Bol, whose funeral he attended days before this shooting.
It's not clear if they were blood relations, or if Bol was considered an uncle because of tribal connections.
In a rare move, the judge opted to reconvene on Veteran's Day despite that being a court holiday.
The case could go to the jury at that time.
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A 27-year-old Batesburg-Leesville woman is in trouble with the law after police say she left one of her children in her car and carried the other one in a shopping cart while she attempted to steal clothes from Walmart.
According to a Columbia Police Department incident report, Brittany N. Bryan was caught by a loss prevention officer on Thursday attempting to carry a dozen pieces of women's clothing from the Walmart at 7520 Garners Ferry Road.
When a police officer arrived, Bryan notified him that she left her three-year-old in her car, the report stated. The officer found the little girl sleeping in the back seat with a pillow and blanket.
According to the report, Bryan told the officer that she left the girl in the car because she was sleeping and she did not want to wake her up. The child was alone in the vehicle for approximately 45 minutes, the report states.
The report also states Bryan had a three-month-old boy in her shopping cart.
The children were placed in protective custody.
Bryan was arrested and charged with shoplifting and cruelty to children. She was transported to Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center where she remains on just over $1,500 bond.
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Goat Cheese
Like its cow's-milk cousins, goat cheese (called chèvre) comes in endless varieties. The main attraction? Its wonderful tangy flavor.
How to Choose Goat Cheese
Fresh, unaged goat cheese, sold in logs or rounds, is soft and creamy, with a spreadable texture and a sweet-tart flavor sometimes described as grassy. An aged cheese—which may be covered in edible ash to prevent a crust from developing—typically has a fluffy middle and a gooey exterior when younger and a firm texture when aged a year or more. Aged Gouda goat cheese is sweet and delicious, with caramel overtones; as blue goat cheese ages, it becomes earthier and more pungent.
How to Store Goat Cheese
Refrigerate goat cheese in its unopened packaging for up to 3 months; once it's opened, wrap leftovers in wax paper, then loosely in plastic wrap, and consume within a week. Shelf life depends on the variety, though, so check the dating on the label. If mold appears on the surface of aged cheese, simply cut it off; the rest is fine to eat.
How to Use Goat Cheese
Fresh chèvre can be added to omelets or spread on bagels, while aged goat cheese works like other hard cheeses: alone or in pastas and sauces.
—Melinda Page
Real Simple Goat Cheese Recipes:
- Linguine With Summer Vegetables and Goat Cheese
- Herbed Goat Cheese
- Goat Cheese Bruschetta
- Barley and Lentil Salad With Goat Cheese
- Spinach and Goat Cheese Frittata
What's your favorite goat cheese recipe?
what's in season
Fruits and vegetables at their peak right now.
Find out what's in season in your area right now, then locate a farmers' market near you.


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It's 100 Days until Black Friday! Here Are 7 Things You Need to Know TODAY.
It's just 100 short days until Black Friday 2014! Do you realize how short that really is? It may be back-to-school season now, but that will quickly segue into Halloween and Thanksgiving and, you know, Black Friday. And of course, Black Friday predictions and rumors are just around the corner, too.
We've been at this whole Black Friday thing awhile now, and there are a few things we've learned over the years.
The first ads usually start leaking in mid-October.
"When will we start seeing Black Friday ads?" is one of the most common questions we get. To answer, we took an accounting of the first ads we've gotten over the last few years:
- October 10, 2010: Sears
- October 17, 2011: Harbor Freight and Ace Hardware
- September 27, 2012: Sprint
- October 10, 2013: Sears Canada
The Sprint leak in 2012 was actually unprecedented in how early it was, and also was not a typical ad in that it only revealed one product. The next ad we found in 2012 was Harbor Freight again, this time on October 12. So we're comfortable calling the 2012 Sprint leak a fluke, but it just proves the point that there's no way to predict when an ad will be released unless the retailer announces it. And even then, someone might swipe a copy off the boss's desk and sent it out to the interwebs ahead of schedule.


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Running head : THE octogenarian TESTERMENT ERA Student nameName of the lecturer0ctober 30 , 2008The Christian bible is split into to parts namely the antique forget and the New volition . The mature Testament s field is date bet on from the globe of the valet and it s contents . As much as it s earthly concern is long enough this will contains many ideas and seemingly theories use to establish reasoning back end some occurances .
Themes picture from this testament are : beau ideal s uniqueness and His glory , the virtue , His influence on the temper and world History , expression of worship , individual and integrated iniquity and it s remedy to the world perceived to be unholy in the eyes of deityThe over-the-hill Testament history is divide in different areas namely : Premeval Period /creation , patriarch eon , Exodus , nirvana conquest , The date of resolve , Mornachial date , Exile , matter and Restoration age concerning dates these experient Testament historic dates are dated ass follows : The early / reality period is dated back from the beginning of earth succession is believed to have begun with God himself (Genesi1 :1After this unique era of time came : the Patriarch Era more or less (1800-1290BC ,Exodus era dated1447-1406 ,conquest of Canaan Era (1406-1390 ,The Era of Judges (1290-1050BC ,the era monarchy (1050-750BC ,Era of division and Exile (605-538BC )and ultimately the era of return and coming back (538-323BC .It is noneworthy that these given dates may non be precise and accurate . However they are archaeologically classic . In the history of the Old Testament...If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Orderessay
If you want to get a full information about our service, visit our page: How it works.


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Ok - so the number 1 team in the land beat us by 25 on a neutral court - neutral in name only, since most of the crowd was wearing Tarheel Blue.
And ok - we went 9-23 from three-point range, and shot 41% overall - only marginal improvements over our season averages so far.
And, yes, ok - we gave away 25 turnovers (17 alone in the first half).
Plus we got no respect. Color announcer (and former Dukie) Jay Bilas repeatedly wondered why we weren't getting blown out by 25 or more at the half with that many turnovers in the first frame. That obnoxious slug Doug Gottlieb mocked us during half time. Everyone shamelessly referred to the Tarheels as "Carolina" like we weren't even there.
So we should be upset, right? Another dismal performance, right?
But I'm not going there. I was really proud of the team last night. I thought they played hard and I could see the outline of better things to come. We had four players in double digits - Gill, Leonard, Cooke and Slawson. Impressively, Slawson had a double-double off the bench (13-14) plus four blocks, and looked like the player we hoped he might become. We out-rebounded the vaunted Heels 38 to 33, and had only a differential of two on offensive rebounds (11:13). We actually had an inside game. We didn't give up or let UNC run us totally off the floor despite all the turnovers.
Color me suitably impressed. The game was never in doubt - UNC never let us get much closer than 10 points throughout and stomped us at the end. We could play this game 10, 20 times and UNC is going to win each time, probably by a much wider margin. But the effort was there on USC"s part. We showed out. We played hard. We were soundly beaten but we weren't completely humiliated by a 40 point margin, or the Heels breaking the century mark, like many of us probably feared but were unwilling to admit
People will say it was an off-night for the Heels, and there is likely a lot of truth in that. Others will say that the Heels were intentionally playing conservative ball - and there is likely a lot of truth to that, too. But we held the # 1 team in the country to 46% shooting from the floor and just 50% (8 of 16) from the arc. We played better than most of us probably expected. Against lesser teams, what we accomplished could turn into wins.
I don't think we're out of the woods. We still chucked up way too many contested threes. We over-dribbled when we should have been passing. We were just 7 of 12 from the stripe. There is still a lot of room for improvement.
All that being said, I think we can build on last night - even in a 25 point loss. Hopefully, our effort against the best team in college hoops means we won't see anymore chokes against teams we should be beating handily (a la Elon or Tennessee State) or eked-out wins against lower-division clubs (like Mississippi Valley State). Whether that will translate into a respectable out-of-conference record and winning SEC ball remains to be seen. However, there's a glimmer of hope there. For me, at least.


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Former police commandant gets suspended sentence
HAROLD Crooks, the former commandant of the Island Special Constabulary Force, was yesterday given a suspended sentence on sex charges and was immediately tasked by the court to spread the word that little girls are not to be abused or in any way disadvantaged.
The former commandant was sentenced to two years' imprisonment on two counts of indecent assault when he appeared in the Home Circuit Court, but the sentence was suspended for three years. This means if the 72-year-old Crooks commits, within the three years, a crime punishable by imprisonment he would also have to serve the two-year sentence if convicted.
Crooks was on July 4 convicted by a panel of seven jurors, but was acquitted of the more serious charge of carnal abuse.
The prosecution alleged that Crooks had sex with a teenage girl in 2009 and assaulted her a month before she turned 16.
But the former commandant denied the allegations, stating instead that the two had sex, but only after the girl turned 16, which is the age of consent. He was represented by attorneys Barry Frankson and Jodian Hammitt.
Yesterday, in handing down the sentence, Justice Bertram Morrison told Crooks that he had a moral obligation and responsibility to children. After suspending the sentence, Morrison told Crooks to go back to his community and spread the word that children are to be treated properly.
Morrison decided against imprisoning Crooks, in part, because of the character evidence given on his behalf by senior members of his community.
The suspended sentence was a big relief for Crooks who, after fleeing the island in March 2010 before he could be arrested, told the Jamaica Observer through attorney Vincent Wellesley that he would not be returning because he had no faith in the justice system.
"He said that he is innocent, but that he has no faith in the justice system and he is not coming back. He said he is an old man and that if he is convicted he will die in prison," Wellesley said then.
Crooks was arrested after jumping off a cruise ship in Ocho Rios, St Ann, when he returned to the island.


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Governance arrangements for state owned enterprises
AbstractThe aim of this paper is to shed new light on key challenges in governance arrangements for state owned enterprises in infrastructure sectors. The paper provides guidelines on how to classify the fuzzy and sometimes conflicting development goals of infrastructure and the governance arrangements needed to reach such goals. Three policy recommendations emerge. First, some of the structures implied by internationally adopted principles of corporate governance for state owned enterprises favoring a centralized ownership function versus a decentralized or dual structure have not yet been sufficiently"tested"in practice and may not suit all developing countries. Second, general corporate governance guidelines (and policy recommendations) need to be carefully adapted to infrastructure sectors, particularly in the natural monopoly segments. Because the market structure and regulatory arrangements in which state owned enterprises operate matters, governments may want to distinguish the state owned enterprises operating in potentially competitive sectors from the ones under a natural monopoly structure. Competition provides not only formidable benefits, but also unique opportunities for benchmarking, increasing transparency and accountability. Third, governments may want to avoid partial fixes, by tackling both the internal and external governance factors. Focusing only on one of the governance dimensions is unlikely to improve SOE performance in a sustainable way.
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Bibliographic InfoPaper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 4542.
Date of creation: 01 Mar 2008
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Related researchKeywords: National Governance; Banks&Banking Reform; Public Sector Economics&Finance; Debt Markets; Public Sector Expenditure Analysis&Management;
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- NEP-ALL-2008-03-08 (All new papers)
- NEP-DEV-2008-03-08 (Development)
- NEP-PBE-2008-03-08 (Public Economics)
- NEP-TRA-2008-03-08 (Transition Economics)
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- Malgas, Isaac & Eberhard, Anton, 2011. "Hybrid power markets in Africa: Generation planning, procurement and contracting challenges," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3191-3198, June.
- Stavros A. Zenios, 2013. "The Cyprus Debt: Perfect Crisis and a Way Forward," Cyprus Economic Policy Review, University of Cyprus, Economics Research Centre, vol. 7(1), pages 3-45, June.
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Mondays are just awful. Here's some Bengals links that can help you get to Tuesday.
- The Bengals aren't just going to benefit from the selection of Tyler Eifert on offense, but Eifert will benefit from the Bengals' offense.
- Bengals wide receiver Andrew Hawkins visited the Wounded Warrior Charity Flag Football Tournament in Windber. He said he's still not used to signing autographs.
- Pro Football Focus listed Bengals cornerback Adam Jones as a "Secret Superstar." Many consider him to be the best third corner in the league.
- Greg Lloyd thinks the Bengals will benefit from the addition of James Harrison, saying he'll add a "spark" to the defense.
- Here's how Andy Dalton's first two seasons have stacked up against some of the NFL's elite quarterbacks' first two seasons.
- Could Eifert and Giovani Bernard be Offensive Rookie of the Year candidates?
- Voting for the league's best throwback helmets has pitted the Bengals against the Rams. You can vote here.


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From the Southern Indiana Affairs Desk: It's Derby Time!
This week I am typing this mutha out in a cheap hotel somewhere on the outskirts of Louisville, Kentucky. For it is Derby weekend my dear friends! Unfortunately I failed to make prior arrangements at a more appropriate lodging facility closer to track


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Sherdog has uploaded all the fights from last night/this morning's One FC card that took place in Singapore. The main event was a bout between Eduard Folayang and A Sol Kwon. If you'd like to read more about the show, you can check out Anton Tabuena's great recap here. Here is his quick assessment of the night:
I just got back from the Singapore Indoor Arena where ONE FC hosted their first show dubbed as "Champion vs. Champion" in front of thousands of screaming fans. The presentation and the venue looked really good, the event ran smoothly, and more importantly, the fights were pretty fun. As expected from a debuting promotion, they did have a few tiny things to work on, but overall, it was an excellent first show, and the promotion showed a lot of promise.
Here are some vids.
Eduard Folayang vs. A Sol Kwon:
Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs. Phil Baroni:
You can catch the rest of the videos over at Sherdog at this link.


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|Subject: The
Sunday Morning Laughs #584b
Date: 4/13/2008
This cute, silly movie can
be seen on my web site by
Source: http://news.aol.com/story/_a/ufo-photos-draw-national-
The tiny beach town of Capitola,
Calif., is buzzing about a
You can view these eleven
UFO photos at the above source, or
I like this drawing of two
old ladies so I put it on
You can see this cute cartoon
strip at the above source,
You can read this cute story
of a police arrest at the above
Husband and wife are sitting
quietly in bed reading when
WIFE: "What would you do if
I died? Would you get married
WIFE: "Why not? Don't
you like being married?"
WIFE: "Then why wouldn't you
WIFE: "You would?" (with a hurt look)
HUSBAND: (makes audible groan)
WIFE: "Would you live in our
WIFE: "Would you sleep with
her in our bed?"
WIFE: "Would you let her drive
my car?"
WIFE: "Would you replace my
pictures with hers?"
WIFE: "Would you give her
my jewellery?"
WIFE: "Would you take her
golfing with you?"
WIFE: "Would she use my clubs?"
WIFE: -- silence --
Q: What do you call two lesbians
in a canoe?
Q: What do you call a shed
full of Lesbians ?
Q: What did one lesbian frog
say to the other?
Q: Did you hear that Nike
is coming out with a new
Q: How do you know lesbian
carpenters built your house?
Q: What do you call an Irish
Q: What's the lesbians motto?
Q: What do two lesbians do
when have their period?
Q: What do you call 100 heavily
armed lesbians?
Q: How many lesbians does
it take to change a lighbulb?
Q: What do you get when you
add a million lesbians
Q: What's the difference between
a Lebanese Woman, and a catfish?
Q: What do you call a lesbian
Q: What do you call a lesbian
with fat fingers?
Q: What's the difference between
a Wheat Thin and a lesbian?
Q: Know what one lesbian vampire
said to another lesbian vampire?
Q: What is the leading cause
in death with lesbians?
Q: What's the difference between
a lesbian finger-
Q: How can you tell if a lesbian
is butch?
Q: What do you call an Irish
Q: What do you call a truck
load of vibrators?
Q: Why do lesbians like to
have gay male friends?
Q: Why do gay men like to
have lesbian friends?
Q: How many lesbians does
it take to screw in a light bulb?
Q: What do you call lesbian
From: LABLaughsClean on 3/28/2008
"They do not love who do not
show their love."
"What do we live for, if it
is not to make life less
"If you have made mistakes,
there is always another
"I never guess. It is
a capital mistake to theorize before


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Route Guide - iPhone / Android - Partners - Forum - Photos - Deals - What's New - School of Rock
Routes Sorted
L to R R to L Alpha
Cardinal Sin is another fantastic line that takes on a more vertical section of rock (at least by Rifle standards). This route is 40 yards down the road from 80 Feet of Meat and starts with the first couple of bolts on homemade hangers. This route climbs through a crazy sequence of underclings that is very cool and follows this with a thin, non-positive crux sequence. Keep climbing fast through here and the going will get easier. A long draw may be nice for shorter people in the crux. Highly recommended.
8 bolts to lowering rings.


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Gear Head™ 7-Port hub for Mac has USB 2.0 technology that lets you daisy chain up to 127 devices for connecting all of USB devices. Hub in white color comes with USB data and power cable for 480 Mbps transfer speed through multiple ports.
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|Latest News
Bears Outlast Glads 4-2
Friday, February 14, 2014
ORLANDO, Fla. - Brenden Walker and Evan Bloodoff scored second period goals, but the Orlando Solar Bears held off the Gwinnett Gladiators Friday night 4-2 at the Amway Center.
A former Gladiator opened the scoring, as Tyler Murovich deflected a Bryce Aneloski shot through the legs of Gwinnett (18-27-1-2) goaltender Mathieu Corbeil for a 1-0 Solar Bears (27-16-1-2) lead 7:14 into the game.
Aneloski pushed Orlando ahead 2-0 just 1:17 later, streaking down the right wing and beating Corbeil with a shot mid-blocker side.
Gwinnett came back to pull within a goal in the second. Walker let loose a slapper just shy of the Orlando blue line that knuckled under the blocker of Cody Reichard and in at 9:57 from Casey Pierro-Zabotel and Marshall Everson.
Jacob Cepis answered for Orlando with a blast from the far point at 11:09 on the power play, but Gwinnett cut the deficit to 3-2. Bloodoff scored his team-leading 16th goal of the season, as he put a shot off the inside of Reichard's blocker from long distance and into the net at 16:46. Matthew Clune and Bobby Hughes had the helpers.
Taylor Matson however added an insurance marker for Orlando late in the third, knocking in a shot that originally bounced off Corbeil's blocker at 16:46 to seal a 4-2 Orlando win.
The same two teams meet again Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. at the Amway Center. The Gladiators return home for Puck Dynasty Weekend February 21st-23rd at the Arena at Gwinnett Center.
The Gladiators are members of the ECHL, the nation's premier "AA" hockey league and are affiliated with the Phoenix Coyotes of the NHL. All home games are played at the 11,355-seat Arena at Gwinnett Center, located just off I-85 on Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth.
For all the latest team news, contests, and more visit GwinnettGladiators.com, or "like" the Gladiators on Facebook (Facebook.com/GwinnettGladiators), and follow the team on Twitter (Twitter.com/GWTGladiators).


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You don't need to know about me......unless you would like to? If you want to know what I like, and am into, then just follow me on my Youtube page. malastrome15. So, enjoy. I'll just let you out now.....
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