Today's PRC Pt II: Letting SOEs Fail
No longer a novelty: a Chinese SOE that goes belly up. Warren Buffett had a memorable turn of phrase when he said that we can identify who's naked when the tide rolls out. With the recent slowdow…
Showing posts with the label Governance
Volkswagen's State Capture of Germany
Chancellor Merkel and ex-VW honcho Martin Winterkorn in happier times. The Financial Times has a very interesting article on the extent of German automakers' influence on the German state. You w…
China's 'Extraordinary Rendition' of Executives
Detaining executives without due process or explanation: Does the PRC's actions constitute economic terror? Leave it to the Communist Party to find a way to roil Asian markets one way or another.…
Malaysia, Middle-Income Trap, Failed SWF & Kickbacks
The media's new poster boy for Asian corruption and mismanagement: 1MDB. Despite being the next-most advanced nation in Southeast Asia after Singapore, Malaysia has never quite made it to "…
American Imperialism & Blatter's Last Stand
A match made in hell: Gazprom & FIFA. One good post on battle over futbol mundial deserves another: I am constantly surprised by the amount of global attention the governance of FIFA has receiv…
'Teflon' Sepp Blatter & FIFA 'Crime Syndicate'
Can the US Justice Department take down Sepp Blatter, 'evil genius'? Criminal organizations come in all sorts of shapes and sizes these days. Just last week, American financial giants Citigro…
Corporate Governance: Of Korean 'Nut Rage' & BMW
Headlines here in Asia have been dominated by the story of the Korean Air executive who went ballistic on a flight attendant because he had served her nuts in a bag instead of on tableware. Hence the…
Stock Buybacks & the End of the Modern Corporation
Should you even bother protesting corporations when they're dying anyway? A most curious phenomena occurring in the new millennium as far as businesses are concerned is the number of publicly lis…
Singapore and the Demoncracy [sic] of Political Freedom
Ah, independent Singapore: a Lee-controlled city-state with a brief Goh Chok Tong intermission. I call it the "Medvedevian Interlude." Harry Lee Kuan Yew is famous for his "Asian Value…
Olympics, World Cup & F1's Last Hope - Authoritarianism
You'd be a fool to bet against Almaty hosting the 2022 Winter Games. Talk about the relationship between sports and authoritarianism. Let me put it this way: the only countries now willing to ho…
Gadgets Make the World Go Round: 15 Yrs of ITA
During these dark days of Doha Round deadlock, good news from the WTO is hard to come by. But, even your ever-pessimistic correspondent has managed to fetch--wait for it-- reasonably good news involv…
PRC Inc. Boycotts World Bank-IMF Meet in Tokyo
In case you missed it, there's been very interesting news these past few days over the mass boycott of Chinese banks, presenters and other participants who were originally scheduled to be at the …
Why the US Ain't in the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Here's another factoid you can use to embarrass even the most vaunted international relations pooh-bahs alike my blogging colleagues (especially of the garden-variety American sort): Ask them whe…
Thou Shalt Obey Thy Lord Mandy on Globalization
On paper, I am not supposed to favourably regard Peter Mandelson, the third architect of the UK's third way along with Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. While I regard the latter two as rather odious …
The Political Comeuppance of Rupert Murdoch
I used to rule the world Seas would rise when I gave the word Now in the morning I sleep alone Sweep the streets I used to own [With apologies due to Coldplay.] For a long time now, I've grudgin…
Countering Rising Food Prices at the G-20 (Sort Of)
In case you missed it, the G-20 recently held a meeting of agricultural ministers in gay (as in happy) Paris. Given the wide range of global governance problems, focusing on things other than finance…