FWIW:
Just like in Washington, D.C., and New England's whining, liberal, crisis-mongering media; you can find articles everywhere which will attempt to scare you away from doing anything from drinking milk to quietly reading to your children.
With regard to China; Coca-Cola, General Motors, Lucent Technologies, IBM, etc., etc., etc., etc., (..all of whom have access to privileged information the media and Hillary-hugging naysayers can't touch..) are all expanding, building plants, and making major marketing efforts in and towards the mainland.
Some time ago, in a conversation with Dan, he was already aware that the government was going to make immediate efforts to improve the lot of the common man in the country and promote economic growth by pumping money back into the economy, raising salaries and pensions, etc. Mr. Deng is rather well connected in Beijing circles, as you may recall,
The '..repeat..' of the following news article bears this out.
The salient point is, the first things people buy (after food, clothes and shelter) is basic conveniences - like heating and hot water.
Hot water is the basic key to proper sanitation (..remember the old movie line every time the country doc delivers a baby, or patches somebody up; "..go boil some water.."). Nothing has changed. If you need an object lesson - turn your water heater and stove off for three days, and see how it affects your household. Hey, "..I dare ya.."!!
The money (see below) is flowing into the hands of the people, and it will be spent on basics. The demand for LPG to heat water and living spaces will increase. Note: this is not a first-time experiment - they did it last year and IT WORKED..!!
If you can't see the dynamic involved, considering LGOV's market position - sell your stock and get the hell out.
Go buy something (..tongue in cheek..) like MVEE, and put your future in the hands of something rock solid - like Jean Claude VanDammes' ability to peddle celluloid - in that fully (un)accountable environment I call "..Hollyweird..". Porn capital of the world.
Or, buy something reliable like IBM, with established dividends, and put the rest in a high interest savings account.
BTW: President Bill Clintwit has (..see MSNBC/ABC/CBS/CNN..) already served notice on Taiwan that he is going to support his and Al's primary campaign contributors in Beijing. He can't afford to do otherwise - or they'd both be exposed by their sources. <i9>Catch-22, in bigtime political hardball..!!
(IMO) any following administrations will have to follow suit, or suffer the wrath of corporate backlash from companies significantly larger that LGOV, who are solidly positioned in mainland China.
If Taiwan gets absorbed back into mainland China few lose, geo-politically. If China gets snubbed in favor of Taiwan, we lose mainland China and perhaps see an active civil war. I don't think Slick has the stomach for that - while details of his and Al's campaign finances get splashed across the headlines of the NY Times.
Here's what's really going on, direct from China:
Measures to be taken to strengthen economy
CHINA is planning a number of measures to buoy economic growth in the second half of 1999, Finance Minister Xiang Huaicheng said yesterday.
A special treasury bond issue is expected to be launched, as happened last September.
The government is also considering raising incomes of the poorest urban residents to drive up consumption.
Retirees from State-owned enterprises and workers laid off from SOEs can expect higher pension or living allowances. Salaries of civil servants and employees working for State-sponsored institutions are also likely to be raised, he said.
Xiang made the remarks while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a national conference on public finance management, scheduled from Wednesday to today.
Xiang said his ministry would propose an expanded government deficit for 1999, which was set at 150.3 billion yuan (US$18 billion) by the National People's Congress (NPC) at its annual session held in March.
The Standing Committee of the NPC would have the last say on the adjustment of the budget, he said.
Xiang said proceeds from the special treasury bond issue would be used to finance infrastructure construction as well as technology upgrading of key industries and equipment localization of some key projects.
High-tech industries, environment protection projects and improvement of facilities of research and education would also benefit from the issue, he said.
But he did not specify the volume of the proposed issue. Under the original budget, 341.5 billion yuan (US$41 billion) worth of treasury bonds was planned to be floated in 1999.
The volume of the special issue last September was 100 billion yuan (US$12 billion). The money from the issue was focused on an infrastructure building scheme.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Finance announced it would raise tax refund rates for exports including textiles, garments and coal.
The increased government spending on industries, people's incomes and the raised tax rebate rates means the government intends to use fiscal policy to fuel all three major engines for economic growth _ investment, consumption and exports _ Xiang said.
"This reflects the central government's determination and courage in dealing with the problems in the economic sector," he said.
China's fiscal revenues totalled 529.4 billion yuan (US$63.8 billion) in the first half of 1999, representing a 24.3 per cent increase over the same period of last year.
Xiang attributed the rapid growth mainly to some unusual reasons _ the State's crackdown on smuggling, which led to a big growth in custom tariffs, and increased tax income in the petrochemical industry caused by the rebound of oil prices.
Date: 07/23/99
Author: Xu Binglan
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