Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: russwinter who wrote (52739)	2/5/2006 4:54:33 PM
From: GST	Respond to of 110194

Your underlying thesis is that China is corrupt at the highest levels of government. I would put it to you that the US is far more corrupt at the senior most levels and that most corruption in China is on the petty end of the spectrum. The conjecture that the rich in China got that way by milking government relations is simply not supported at all by the facts. You are making a ludicrous assumption given the data on who is rich and how they got that way in China. In the US, the behavior you describe is rampant. Perhaps you assume it is the same in China.

To: russwinter who wrote (52739)	2/5/2006 6:58:21 PM
From: TobagoJack	Respond to of 110194

Hello Russ, As to ... <<I do feel China and Japan are too loose now relative to the US. But again, that's contrived and artifical designed to encourage rent seeking behavior>> ... eh, perhaps you are correct, but I am having trouble rustling up "no documentation, interest only, optional payment, reverse amortization, 105% hard loan to soft value" financing at the mo. Chugs, J

To: russwinter who wrote (52739)	2/5/2006 10:48:18 PM
From: shades	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

There is a exporter class in those countries, that gets to bring back overvalued USD and exchanges it with the central bank for Yen and RMB at artificially contrived rates. This transaction represents an egregious form of rent seeking behavior. Ravi Batra said we need unilateral currency exchange - the fed needs to give special rates to our exporters and foriegn importers - do you think that could help a lot Russ?

To: russwinter who wrote (52739)	2/7/2006 3:14:12 AM
From: shades	Respond to of 110194

Abramoff and Rent-Seeking Arnold Kling econlog.econlib.org In a long article filled with details, Fred S. McChesney writes Lobbyists are free to petition government on behalf of clients. Indeed, the process is protected by the First Amendment. Accepting money for the exercise of one's First Amendment rights is not forbidden, either. (Abramoff's biggest legal problems essentially concern tax evasion and defrauding his clients, not creating or extracting their rents.) You have to read the whole article to appreciate the intricacies of the regulation of Indian casinos, and the rent-seeking incentives thereby created. econlib.org For Indian tribes, the good news is that, in the federal government, they have a potential ally in their negotiations with the state over the establishment and operation of tribal casinos. The bad news, however, is that three-cornered negotiations among the tribes, the states and the federal government mean that it is never clear in advance who will be able to do what. As economist Ron Johnson summarizes, there are too many claimants for the right to allow and regulate tribal casinos. Property rights are unclear, and so every side has an incentive to produce the outcome it favors. Tribes want to open profitable casinos, states want to regulate and maximize their tax revenues, and the federal government, at least initially, wants to mediate between the two other interests. In such convoluted situations, particularly with the profits from Indian gambling being so high, Indian tribes have a great incentive to find those who know the game when it comes to state and federal governments.2 Enter lobbyists like Jack Abramoff. Time and again the problem is not the ethics of a weak human - but the power of the RING and destroying the RING is the only way to get people to stop gunning for it. Ron Paul has been preaching it for years now. You dont fundamentally change government by buying shiny metal as the depression ERA goldbugs learned the hard way - there are votes, and watchdogs, and decentralization of power.