Good Thread, Interesting reading all the comments and viewpoints.
I'd like to throw in an observation for others to discuss or comment upon,
and a bit of anecdotal info:
First I'm based in Silicon Valley, connected with semiconductors and have a professional and personal interest in things Asian.
The observation: I've not looked very hard but haven't seen any news media focus on the issue of Taiwan sovereignty. This seems a rather obvious issue coming on the heels of the Hong Kong handover last summer. I remember 7 - 10 years ago, when there was much local real estate speculation some of which was attributed to flight of HK monies due to the then feared end of British rule. There are many in the local working population who were born and raised in Taiwan. For some of them, they suffer a complex identity crisis, not really sure where their alligences lie. Economically they are naturalized Americans, culturally they are Chinese, and by birth heritage they are Taiwanese, but mostly they are confused in all this. I assume there will be an eventual rationalization of the China/Taiwan separation. Will it be peaceful ? Will it be without economic disruptions ?
A friend and co-worker at a Singapore based foundry fab I contract with made a comment the other day while he was visiting and working here. Said that recent auctions for the "right" to purchase a vehicle in Singapore had dropped substantially. A year ago he paid S$40K (Singapore Dollars) for this "rights" document. Said the latest bid for a similar document had fallen to S$50. He lamented that his car had lost 40,000 in value as a consequence. This sounds like a significant way for the Singaporean government to influence local consumer spending on large capital expeditures like cars. I wonder if other countries like Malaysia also do the same. I remember the Proton Sagas that I rode in a few years back were somehow subsidized such that Malaysians were economically influenced to buy them instead of imports. I can understand given the unique circumstances of Singapore the need to curb inflow of vehicles so that the island doesn't wake up one day to find itself in a monumental gridlock. But is this also a central banking mechanism for helping to influence local cash flow ?
Any and all comments/answers welcome.
Regards, |
