Voting, Crisis and Laundry

I have been busy the last few days... getting back into my routine, going to pilates class, four loads of laundry (by hand!) doing research on Yunnan, having a send-off for a friend headed back to the States, celebrating birthdays.... regular life stuff. Oh and thank you to the Cook County Board of Elections for sending me all my fancy absentee ballot materials to my email inbox. How nice of them.

Here are a few interesting things I have come across lately:

George Packer's profile of real voters in Ohio, people talking about how they are organizing, not voting, undecided... The whole spectrum is represented, in their own words! Captivating.

I have made friends with an Icelandic kid who rides around Kunming everyday. One day his country's financial meltdown might make sense to him. I wonder if this is the first of many casualties.

Perhaps we can all feel better that some portfolio managers are taking note of the low stock prices and seem eager to get back in the buying state of mind. Perhaps fear really will trump logic? This NYT article looks at how people are reacting.

Steve Coll at the New Yorker takes a short look at how we got here in the first place.

People don’t generally panic in the sunshine. They panic in the dark. And we are in the dark about what assets and liabilities are truly held in what has been properly labeled the “shadow banking system”--the global aggregation of hedge funds, privately placed debt securities, and the hedging or insurance contracts known as credit default swaps.

And in China...
Chinese banks had to write-off more than 300$US billion in stocks and bonds when the big collapses occurred. They seem to think this is a drop in the bucket. China needs the United States to not collapse.
But their are certainly many many opportunities in this mess for them, not least among them the chance to buy into cheap foreign companies, a strong rationale for a strong continued government hand at the wheel of the macro-economy, and a growing understanding of why China is indeed a major player in the health and future of the US economy. Their optimism looks something like reassurance.

Prime Minister Wen: "So long as people of all countries, especially their leaders, can do away with hostility, estrangement and prejudice, treat each other with sincerity and an open mind, and forge ahead hand in hand, mankind will overcome all difficulties and embrace a brighter and better future," he said.

"China, as a responsible major developing country, is ready to work with other members of the international community to strengthen cooperation, share opportunities, meet challenges and contribute to the harmonious and sustainable development of the world," he said.

Asia Times: "In the past, China has been blamed for the low-degree of internationalization of its financial industries. Now it seems we are profiting from this 'fault,' according to XinHua commentary.

"Our not-fully-open financial system and not-fully-convertible currency saved China from being rattled during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. And now again this seems to be a strong dam to protect us against the current financial tsunami," an economics researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) said.

This picture is for my mom.
She bristles at Barack's finger pointing.
There is much blame to be assigned.
Go Get 'Em Barack!