Jameswg

The Great MasterCard - Visa Debates

I work in this industry and what I know is that Visa/MC make .1% of every transaction and .0075 cents per transaction everytime someone uses that card. It is a very compelling way to make money.
Now that they are demutualizing, the banks which held them in check will slowly be replaced as a constituency in the decision making.

I would not worry about Government intervention in any country. The government, especially the Chinese government, wants to encourage people to migrate from cash so they can monitor the underground economy

V/MC will both be monster winners for a long time. Once PAY can find a way to fix their internal financial problems, they will be a winner too.

Chinese Cozy Up to E-Commerce

The Chinese government is extremely paternalistic, especially in online affairs, what would happen if many people would abuse credit and credit cards once they receive it? I know that U.S. college students abuse them and they grew up with them. If seemingly free money starts falling down on non-financially savvy consumers it could exacerbate income inequality in China and be at least a perceived destabilizing risk by the Government.

China Heating Up: Venture Capital, Halter Index Soar

Why would investors try to invest in Chinese Biotech? The Chinese review process is suspect. Their universities are not as good as those in the U.S. Their K-12 education is robotic. Biotech isnt linked to overall growth of the Chinese economy. Now China feels it can clamp down with capital controls. Yikes. Surely, this is a sign of froth when investors are reaching for anything China.

Tortilla Plants in Shanghai? Warming Trade Relations Between Mexico and China

I would really love to hear how Mexico can possibly compete with the likes of China on going up the value chain. How can their government on one hand promote how to illegally emigrate to the U.S. and then also say stay and build high-value added companies in Mexico? Mexico will continue do as well as the price of oil does, in my humble opinion.

China's Trillion Dollar Question

This trillion dollars in reserve could be an interesting Africa play. I think since its holdings are in the hands of the government, it will be used politically. Surely, much of it will continue to be put into "safe" U.S. Assets, but the U.S. is no longer interested in preserving the strength of its currency. I know Africa may be one of the few contrarian international plays left, but I would like to hear ideas on how individual investors could front-run Chinese attempts to secure their supply chain with "aid" to resource countries with bad government such as Iran, Venezuela, Nigeria and the Sudan.

Microsoft's Ballmer: We're Wiffing On Vista

It appears that maybe the two best tech companies Apple and Google are really starting to cut MSFT to pieces.

Investing In China's Wedding Fever

Do you seek any companies like the knot.com coming to China?

Eat China Blog</A>