Category: Politics & government

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Economics Politics & government

[1122] Of lefties’ unconvicing argument against FTA

Opponents to the possible Malaysia-US FTA come from various backgrounds and some they have expressed legitimate concerns against the FTA. When I met Ronnie Liu of DAP several months ago, he expressed transparency as a reason to object the FTA. I could accept transparency as as reason but yet, I am convinced that transparency is not the main reason behind DAP’s objection to FTA. This is because transparency was only mentioned after I demonstrated an inconsistency in DAP’s stance in a wider context.

There are many arguments against the FTA that are simply based on simple misunderstanding of economic concepts. I will not touch on that simply however. What I am interested in discussing is the inconsistent.

DAP opposes the Bumiputra policy, in particular the NEP, because it is discriminatory. I myself am against the Bumiputra policy due to how it prevents the market from working freely. But this is not about me.

Proponents of the policy cite that the Bumiputra and really, the Malays, need time to build up its capacity to compete against other economically superior ethnic groups. Hence, the protection and privileges given to the Malays. It is common for the other side, not necessarily DAP but the lefties in general, to come back and say such protection and privileges do not build up the competency the Bumiputa needs to compete against others; it only encourages complacency among the Bumiputra.

Despite not buying into the argument for Bumiputra policy as well as stating how the policy is not helping, many of the same lefties employ the same argument used by the proponent of Bumiputra policy to support protectionism and oppose the FTA. This group argues that Malaysia needs time to build up its capacity to compete against other economically superior countries. When proponents of the FTA cites that protectionism does not encourage Malaysia to become competitive but instead, sowing complacency, they shrug it off, seemingly implying that such inconsistency as a minor inconvenient.

In the case of Ronnie Liu, he ran away from the subject and cited transparency instead.

Lefties will need to sort that out if they are to convince others to oppose the Malaysia-US FTA. Else, lefties that oppose both the Bumiputra policy and the FTA are giving the supporters of Bumiputra policy a leeway. Perhaps, stripping the lefties that moral authority to talk about one issue or the other.

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Politics & government

[1116] Of dear Malaysians, take me to your leader

Question.

The Prime Minister is in Yemen.

The Deputy Prime Minister is in Saudi Arabia.

So, who exactly is in charge?

The king?

Please do not tell me that it is somebody on the fourth floor.

This case also occurred in 2005.

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Economics Politics & government

[1115] Of it is best for BN-led government to dissolve the Parliament soon

I thought yesterday was scary when Shanghai’s benchmark fell about 9%. Yet, I thought it was a mere blip, some sort of a random walk that usually occurs for no good reason. The Dow Jones followed suit later but I thought it was a reaction to the Chinese performance. As of noon, today, the KL Composite Index has fallen nearly 6%. As a whole, it is not pretty for the region either. This might be the start of a vicious cycle and I am beginning to change my mind about the random walk.

I would like to see data on consumer spending to find out what is really happening though. If we truly are in trouble, consumer spending should start falling. It is only unfortunate that there is a lag in reporting.

Meanwhile, talks of recession are yet again running amok:

Still, traders’ dwindling confidence was knocked down further by data showing that the economy may be decelerating more than anticipated. A Commerce Department report that orders for durable goods in January dropped by the largest amount in three months exacerbated jitters about the direction of the U.S. economy, just a day after former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the United States may be headed for a recession. [Stocks Have Worst Day Since 9/11 Attacks, AP via Yahoo!, Feb 27 2007]

Alarms have been sounded earlier. That is why I am somewhat skeptical of the feel good atmosphere the Barisan Nasional-led government is trying to paint currently. The economy was relatively good last year — I am willing to accept that much — but between the future and the past, we should concern ourselves with the former, first and foremost.

With a recession expected to hit the US, and — by virtue that the country is Malaysia’s largest trading partner and that Malaysia is hugely dependent on trade — Malaysia, strategically, I feel it is best for the BN-led government to dissolve the Parliament soon. Therefore, I am agreeing with the executive director of MIER, Ariff Abdul Kareem’s opinion.

The later the general election is held, the worse the economy would perform and the worse BN would perform in the election.

Nevertheless, of course, that does not prevent us from savoring the expected Bank Negara’s announcement on last year’s GDP.

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Economics Environment Politics & government

[1112] Of all hail to Environmental Defense

When KKR, a coal power plants operator and the Environmental Defense are mentioned in one article in the same paragraph, one would expect a report on vicious political skirmish. Quite to the contrary and to my surprise, the three groups are working together!

The buzz first came up a couple hours ago but it is only just now that I accepted it. I was like running into a think see-through glass door — it takes a moment to realize what is going on after a pang in the face. This might signal the greatest cooperation between the greens and the grays yet:

Early Monday, after several weeks of marathon negotiations that brought together both environmentalists and Wall Street bankers, TXU announced that its board of directors had approved the bid from Kohlberg Kravis and Texas Pacific for about $45 billion, which would be the largest buyout in history.

[…]

The deal was noteworthy not just for its size, but for the confluence of business decisions and environmental concerns that drove the ultimate transaction. Because private equity firms are unregulated and historically have valued their privacy, neither Kohlberg Kravis nor Texas Pacific were eager to become an “enemy combatant” of the environmental groups, people involved in the talks said. Reducing the coal plant initiative will also free up billions of dollars in planned spending that the firms will be able to use for other projects or to help finance the transaction. [NYT, Feb 26 2007]

I have a newly found respect for the Environmental Defense! That whole lot spams I received through email, tons of snail mail I received in my mailbox and that couple of bucks I donated to them while I was at Michigan worth every single bit!

This is the crux of the deal, as far as the environment is concerned, as stated in an email I received from Environmental Defense:

As part of the sale agreement, Environmental Defense helped negotiate an aggressive environmental platform that will, among other things:

  • Terminate plans for the construction of 8 of 11 coal-fired power plants TXU had hoped to build;
  • Stop TXU’s plans to expand coal operations in other states;
  • Endorse the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) platform, including the call for a mandatory federal cap on carbon emissions; and
  • Reduce the company’s carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

Way to go!

w00t! w00t!

Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved

p/s — and Al Gore won the Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth!

Categories
Politics & government

[1103] Of Krugman says Hillary needs to admit mistake

Paul Krugman of the New York Times is reminding Presidential candidates, especially Hillary Clinton of the need to admit mistake (via):

But back to Mrs. Clinton’s problem. For some reason she and her advisers failed to grasp just how fed up the country is with arrogant politicians who can do no wrong. I don’t think she falls in that category; but her campaign somehow thought it was still a good idea to follow Karl Rove’s playbook, which says that you should never, ever admit to a mistake. And that playbook has led them into a political trap.

For those that have not been following the current race for the 2008 Presidential election, the New York senator is under attack for refusing to admit mistake for authorizing the invasion of Iraq. As in right now, John Edwards and Barack Obama are in one way or another on the offensive as far as Iraq is concerned. That is very unlike what Hillary Clinton is experiencing right now.