I was not expecting to see the concert, but....
"Back after 35 years, BSO gets warm welcome in China" by Jeremy Eichler | Globe Staff May 03, 2014
BEIJING — The tour’s opener came on a hectic and jittery day in Beijing, as Chinese tourists from around the country took advantage of the May Day holiday and poured into the nation’s capital, clogging its streets and subways. Meanwhile, news spread by word of mouth of what Chinese television later called a terrorist attack in a train station in the country’s western Xinjiang region. Attempts to access almost any reporting from US and European-based news sources proved futile, as their websites appeared to be blocked.
Re$i$tance is not futile, it is e$$ential.
Related: 3 killed in blast in China rail depot
It is futile to keep reading that $ource, sorry.
Security measures at public sites in Beijing are tight even on typical days. On Thursday at the concert hall, all bags passed through metal detectors, and security guards patted down every entering member of the audience.
Not a big deal when it is AmeriKan and corporate $ecurity $ervices.
The hall, known as the National Center for the Performing Arts, is the most prominent representation of China’s classical boom, and of its desire to establish itself as a cultural power of a force commensurate with its economic might.
They don't have to; they already were and are.
************
The crowd that turned out for the occasion was young and casually dressed by American standards. Close observers of China’s classical scene relate tales from a few years ago of first-time audience members speaking on cellphones and walking around the hall during performances.
But by now, at least at the NCPA in the two programs this critic attended, audiences appear to have fully adopted the conventions of Western concert halls. Thursday’s crowd in fact listened to the BSO in the kind of rapt silence that many American ensembles might wish for in their home venues, a fact not lost on the players themselves....
Yeah, “it was as if the music really meant something.”
--more--"
The rude, arrogant Amerikan extends to the reporting.
"Observers hopeful China will ease lending bubble threat" by Christopher S. Rugaber | Associated Press April 29, 2014
WASHINGTON — Just as the global economy has all but recovered from debt-fueled crises in the United States and Europe, economists have a new worry: China. They see a lending bubble there that threatens global growth unless Beijing defuses it.
It's recovered for the 1%, and now the continuation of the Grand Depression after the wealthy have stolen loot the last five years and the $tock market $hell game has been exposed will be blamed on China.
That’s the view that emerges from an Associated Press survey this month of 30 economists. Still, the economists remain optimistic that Beijing’s high-stakes drive to reform its economy — the world’s second-largest — will bolster Chinese banks, ease the lending bubble and benefit US exporters in the long run.
These are all the f***ers who have been wrong, wrong, wrong. Corporate economists shoveling $hit.
‘‘They’ve really got to change the way they do business,’’ said William Cheney, chief economist at John Hancock Asset Management. ‘‘But they have a good track record of doing just that. I’m an optimist about their ability to make this transition.’’
Or what, we wage war on them?
The source of concern is a surge in lending by Chinese banks. The lending was initially encouraged by the government during the 2008 global financial crisis to fuel growth. Big state-owned banks financed construction of homes, railroads, and office towers. But much of the lending was directed by local officials for pet projects rather than to meet business needs.
They responded the way Obummer did, so?
On Monday, the International Monetary Fund issued a warning about China’s private debt.
Oh. Talk about being a banker's mouthpiece.
This is the same IMF that just told the coup-installed Ukrainian government that they must wage war on their fellow citizens in the east or no loan shark austerity agreement for you!!
It released a report citing ‘‘rising vulnerabilities’’ in China’s financial system, including lending outside traditional banks. Lending by that ‘‘shadow’’ banking system now equals one-quarter of China’s economy, the report said.
Related: The Shadow of Debt
Yeah, WALL STREET CA$TS the LARGE$T $HADOW, so large it eclip$es government!
The IMF also pointed to recent defaults in credit card and other debt sold to investors by banks and heavy debts owed by local governments.
Here we go again.
If it continues, ‘‘this could spark adverse financial market reaction both in China and globally,’’ the IMF said.
The bubble has caused land prices in China to double in five years, according to an estimate by Nomura, a Japanese bank. Outstanding credit surged from 130 percent of the economy in 2008 to 200 percent in 2013, according to Capital Economics, a forecasting firm.
When debt has built up that fast in the past — as in the United States during the housing bubble — financial crises have typically followed.
‘‘That should be setting alarm bells off,’’ said Mark Williams, chief Asia economist at Capital Economics.
When debt finances excessive building, eventually too few people or companies are willing to buy all the houses, apartments, and offices. That can send prices sinking and trigger loan defaults by developers and property owners. Banks typically then curtail lending, thereby slowing growth.
Most economists think China’s government would bail out its state-owned banks and provide enough money so they could continue lending. It would also support any companies whose bankruptcy would threaten growth.
China’s government has adopted a reform program intended to strengthen its financial sector and transform its economy with more consumer spending and less dependence on construction and investment.
The IMF said those efforts could make growth more sustainable and boost consumption. But it said progress ‘‘remains incomplete.’’
Premier Li Keqiang, China’s top economic official, promised in March to give market forces a ‘‘decisive role’’ in allocating loans. Days later, the government let a corporate bond default for the first time, rather than bailing out the investors, to encourage more market discipline.
Also that month, China cleared the way for the first five privately owned banks.
The government hopes they will lend more to entrepreneurs and private businesses and provide competition for the state-owned giants.
The measures are having some effect. New lending slowed in March. And the expansion of China’s money supply rose at its slowest rate since 1997. Home sales in the first quarter declined 5.7 percent from a year earlier.
But there has been a cost to China and the global economy. The economy’s growth slowed to 7.4 percent in the first three months of the year, compared with a year ago. That was down from 7.7 percent in last year’s fourth quarter.
While still far ahead of developed economies such as the United States, that rate was well below the double-digit growth China had enjoyed for decades.
The AP survey collected the views of private, corporate, and academic economists on a range of issues.
Why should we listen to liars?
Most said they thought China’s slowdown posed a threat to countries that ship huge amounts of commodities — including iron ore and copper — to China. Among them, Canada, Brazil, Indonesia, and Australia have already felt the sting.
**********
Consumption accounts for only 55 percent of China’s growth, the government said last year. That compares with 70 percent in the United States. But if China’s government succeeds in its reforms, it could benefit US companies by enabling more Chinese consumers to buy US goods and services.
Hey, at least someone will be getting rich.
*********
Among the economists’ other views that emerged from the AP survey:
■ The United States would benefit from lifting a government ban on exporting crude oil and promoting more natural gas exports. Oil and gas drilling has boomed in recent years in North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and other states, prompting oil companies to call for a lifting of the ban.
I'm reserving the right to post about that above.
■ US economic growth and hiring will pick up in the second half of the year....
We have been hearing that lie for five f***ing years.
■ Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen will manage the unwinding of the Fed’s stimulus programs without causing a surge in interest rates or panicking investors. Nearly three-quarters of the economists said they were ‘‘somewhat confident’’ in Yellen’s ability to do so. Six were ‘‘very confident.’’ Only two said they were ‘‘not confident at all.’’
How much you wanna bet they are wrong again?
That's why Bernanke left and Obama dumped this in her lap. Anyone who objects to Fed policy can now be called a $exi$t.
--more--"
Also see:
"Opposition leader urges election delay
BANGKOK — Thailand’s opposition leader Saturday urged the government to delay the July elections and let an interim administration carry out reforms first, as part of a plan to break the country’s political stalemate. The proposals came a few days before the Constitutional Court hears testimony in a case that could remove Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from her caretaker position (AP)."
That's sweet music to see.
Related: Contrasting Coverage Between Thailand and Taiwan
NEXT DAY UPDATES:
11 die in Chinese bridge collapse
US airmen parachute in to help Chinese sailors
I'm not for letting people drown at sea; however, I do question why the US military is performing rescue operations for a Venezuelan fishing ship that is 1265 miles off the Mexican coast while we deal with crushing austerity and social service cuts at home.
I'm not for letting people die, but maybe it is time to retract the empire a bit and let native and indigenous populations keep their own resources and wealth, develop themselves, and let them do this. This empire being everywhere bit is bankrupting us. Time to take care of our own.
I hope that didn't strike a sour note for you. I apologize if it did.
