Observer45

In China, Reputation Rules

Great understanding on how China operates.

Why Google Trails Baidu in China

"Search results in traditional characters: I read this interesting comparison between Google and Baidu, and one of the things it mentions is that on occasion Google returns more search results in traditional Chinese character that’s spoken in Taiwan, Hong Kong and by overseas Chinese. People in mainland China are not too comfortable with the traditional character, so they shy away from such results. These search results make Google look foreign to mainland Chinese users."

Your second point is spot-on and perhaps this is the main thing that disadvantages Google. Considering the fact that it is mostly young people who use such service and they only know the simplified version of the language, they can be put off using Google. Globalized in network but localized in application is the way to go.

Floating Rate Mortgage in Hong Kong Is Setting Up a U.S. Style Housing Market Crash

".........HK was in the thick of SARS in late 2003. And it was like today's swine flu. People were dying, I mean really dying, entire families got wiped out.............."

Although I am not a bull on HK property market, this is dramatization and does not belong here (where are the facts?). This line belongs in some movie script. Fact is: SARS was serious at that time but was brought under control. The change in weather did help. HK's property market is often influenced by mainland purchasers and the lack of developable land (also in Singapore) and low rates. The last of course, can create speculative demand for flip-overs.

India: Heading for the Junkpile?

Your Q: "However, if this forecast becomes a reality, the Indian sovereign rating may have to do with a disgraceful junk rating as has been warned by the global rating agencies - S&P and Moody's.

At worst it will make overseas borrowing nearly impossible for Indian companies. Even as the basis of this rating is debatable, we wonder what saves the US, which is expected to have a deficit of 11.2% of its GDP in 2009, from a similar rating?"

My A: Because these raters with their triple A stamped on subprime have shown what they are capable of.

The extent of financial havoc that they have caused, I wonder why victims of this con have not filed suits against them?

Cadbury Bid Indicates We're in a Stock Bull Market

really?

What Happens in China Doesn't Stay in China

All this article is saying is that the countries that are recovering at present should NOT be doing well. I suppose in the part 3 article (if there is one), it will say that they have NO right to do well.

Did Bernanke Save the World?

World? = world series = USA. That's it, no more. It's a pity that when Obama looked down the barrel there was nothing left to pick.We not only have a trade deficit but we have a talent deficit.

China's 'Problem': Too Much Money

It is better to hear the truth than to hear lies and half truths. Painful no doubt, but that way, you know where you stand and how you can make things right. Years of political and media manipulation have made us behave like zombies For a start, may .I suggest you cut down your dosage of Bloomberg, CNBC and definitely CNN to a minimum.

China Sell-Off Shouldn't Affect U.S. Equities Broadly

Well, unless you want to dramatize it.

Chinese Equities Enter a Bear Market

It is a correction. That's all.

Global Markets in Review: Has Pullback Begun with China?

I think as far as the Shanghai market goes, air is already coming out of that bubble. My guess is another 15% to 20% more to fall. Business loans will continue but at a more cautious pace but loans through business going into the stock market will stop as their banks are remitting the loaned amount directly to the supplier.

CNBC's Taleb: We Aren’t Heading in the Right Direction

'That sin is rampant today, he has committed the sin in spades. He knows less than many of the readers of this blog."

While I may not agree with all that he says, before more broad sweeping inaccurate strokes are made about this guy, go and read his book titled FOOLED BY RANDOMNESS published by Random House. Granted, it is not an easy book to read. BTW, he was a "mathematical trader" in the securities industry (see About the Author), ibid.

California and New York Debt Is Riskier than Russia and Turkey

Looks like the greatest ponzi scam was not run by Uncle Madoff, it is run by Uncle Sam.

China Continues Its Long, Slow Climb to the Skies

A toy pedal car for kids or toy water-pistols for kids are things made in small factories that may lack QC. Do you know how many thousands of such factories are around in China (indeed in the developing world like India and Indonesia)? Lots of simple consumer stuff at low end are suspect. True. That does not mean that they do not know how to make big and high-end technological things like the Qinghai-Tibet railway (where 30% of the line sits on permafrost) and the space vehicle that launched 3 astronauts and returned to earth without a hitch! OK, I hear someone say "they stole the technology". Yes, they stole the technology including the blueprint on how to build the Great Wall.

How You Know the Chinese Market Is in Trouble

"Nobody hates communism and socialism more than I do, but I see in China a country gravitating toward free-markets at the same time western nations are moving in the opposite direction. The idea that all or most numbers out of China are fiction seems to be simple-minded. I see China desiring to become a respectable world economic power and that can't be achieved through a gigantic fraud. As for the purely xenophobic comments on China, no need to address them."

Well spoken! Often the Chinese authorities do not copy what is done in the west blindly, they take, adapt and apply what is suitable for their economy at this present stage of growth, economically and socially. A lot of people cannot see this much less accept it.