Trade // Current

Pushkar Camel Fair 2009

This pod is a quick look at the holy town of Pushkar and its Camel Festival that just... more

juliadewahl
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13 minutes ago
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Sen. Fritz Hollings Ex South Carolina Senator:Get out of Iraq and Afghanistan and into the Trade War

I'm frustrated. Everyone is talking about the loss of jobs from the recession and no... more

slarabee
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1 day ago
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Smugglers In Iraq Have A New Trade: Corpses

Iraqi and U.S. officials have expressed concerns about the traffic of weapons and... more

atomiclegion
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7 days ago
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LIGER at the Dentist!

Lion + Tiger = LIGER! Freckles was rescued from a failed backyard sanctuary in... more

BigCat
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7 days ago
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Superfreakonomics by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner: review - Telegraph

Anyone who read Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s bestselling Freakonomics and came... more

remanns
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17 days ago
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Obama gets an "F" on trade from Republican

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama deserves a failing grade for his... more

tcmfan08
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22 days ago
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The Weekly Carboholic: Climate disruption will disrupt volcanism too

Nature News reported last week that vulcanologists have concluded that climate... more

angliss
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1 month ago
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Max Baucus's ties to Jack Abramoff, Wall Street, Insurance Companies, and more!

The nerve of this Blue Dogshit half wit apparently knows no bounds. But not to worry,... more

asherp
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1 month ago
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Vote for the BIG CAT MAN!

Scott Lope as dedicated the past 10 years of his life to animal welfare and rescues.... more

BigCat
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1 month ago
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After US tariff on Chinese tires, China ups the ante

"HONG KONG — An increasingly acrimonious trade dispute between China and the United... more

mcstayton
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1 month ago
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China's Trump Cards in Global Trade

A single country produces 95 percent of the planet's rare metals: China. This gives... more

Progresshiv
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2 months ago
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Opportunities Presented by Deglobalization

There are 11 key prongs of the deglobalization paradigm:

Production for the domestic market must again become the center of gravity of the economy rather than production for export markets.

The principle of subsidiarity should be enshrined in economic life by encouraging production of goods at the level of the community and at the national level if this can be done at reasonable cost in order to preserve community.

Trade policy - that is, quotas and tariffs - should be used to protect the local economy from destruction by corporate-subsidized commodities with artificially low prices.

Industrial policy - including subsidies, tariffs, and trade - should be used to revitalize and strengthen the manufacturing sector.

Long-postponed measures of equitable income redistribution and land redistribution (including urban land reform) can create a vibrant internal market that would serve as the anchor of the economy and produce local financial resources for investment.

Deemphasizing growth, emphasizing upgrading the quality of life, and maximizing equity will reduce environmental disequilibrium.

The development and diffusion of environmentally congenial technology in both agriculture and industry should be encouraged.

Strategic economic decisions cannot be left to the market or to technocrats. Instead, the scope of democratic decision-making in the economy should be expanded so that all vital questions - such as which industries to develop or phase out, what proportion of the government budget to devote to agriculture, etc. - become subject to democratic discussion and choice.

Civil society must constantly monitor and supervise the private sector and the state, a process that should be institutionalized.

The property complex should be transformed into a "mixed economy" that includes community cooperatives, private enterprises, and state enterprises, and excludes transnational corporations.

Centralized global institutions like the IMF and the World Bank should be replaced with regional institutions built not on free trade and capital mobility but on principles of cooperation that, to use the words of Hugo Chavez in describing the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), "transcend the logic of capitalism."There are 11 key prongs of the deglobalization paradigm: Production for the... more

Progresshiv
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2 months ago
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No Safe Harbor: The Shipping Industry’s Pollution Problem

The shipping industry is an invisible and nearly unregulated environmental disaster,... more

nelsonjs
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2 months ago
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Brown, Gaddafi, Lockerbie and the G8

Today the Guardian reported Brown's meeting with Gaddafi at the G8 summit, where the... more

JasonNParkinson
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3 months ago
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True inspiring story of a handicapped lady trader who made 600,000 in a single day

True inspiring story of a handicapped lady trader who made 600,000 in a single day... more

abhishek25
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3 months ago
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Superpower: US and India agree to major weapons deal

US Secretary of State Clinton and Indian Foreign Minister Krishna announced a huge treaty deal today, between the largest and second largest democracies in the world. India has historically been wary of aligning itself too closely with the US in defense issues, famously starting the Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War, which rejected Soviet and American influence. However, in the post-Cold War era, India has since decided it needed its own nuclear umbrella to protect itself from neighbors like China and Pakistan, both of which it has fought wars with since the Indian Republic's founding in 1950. With one of the largest armed forces in the world (around 3.8 million military and paramilitary), and an underdeveloped defense industry, it's a big weapons market that the US, Russia, France, and Britain have been fighting over.

The US attempted to take the high road against nuclear weapons proliferation, and it's "peaceful nuclear explosion" test in 1974 soured relations, and ensuing nuclear arms race with Pakistan brought a lot of concern. Yet, it's "no first use" and "minimum credible deterrence" nuclear doctrines, and refraining from using the weapons during the 1999 Kargil War with Pakistan over Kashmir has made India seem less antagonistic. It's democratic institutions, detente with Pakistan, and geostrategic counterweight to other less liberally democratic Asian nations have made it a natural partner for the US, leading to improving relations since 2000.

US-Indian trade is around $61 billion in 2007 (out of $3.96 trillion in trade for the US, and $381 billion for India), before the Great Recession hit, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative. Foreign direct investment from the US into India was $13.6 billion, and "outsourcing" to Indian companies has been a politically dangerous issue in the US.

The deal includes removing restrictions from nuclear power production equipment and services from the US, which will benefit companies like General Electric who pioneered nuclear power in the 1940's, but has been unable to do much with the technology in the US due to nuclear paranoid NIMBYism here. French and Russian nuclear power companies already have deals to start developing in India.

The Indian Air Force is also looking to expand, so this deal gives Boeing and Lockheed Martin a chance to bid on contracts for the fighter fleet. Military aircraft are heavily dependent on a supply of parts and expert service, which makes long term military contracts necessary, making long term defense agreements necessary. Bell Helicopters also is bidding on a large helicopter contract coming up.

The Indian Army relies on lots of Soviet era vehicles, including T-72s and T-90s, primarily Kalashnikov variants, BMP-1s and BMP-2s, and so on. If India were to transfer its ground vehicles contracts to a NATO country, it could have a devastating impact on the Russian weapons industry.

The Indian Navy is one of the top five fleets in the world, with 155 ships and even a aircraft carrier purchased from the UK. Her destroyers, frigates, and corvettes are primarily indigenously produced of from Russia. But the US did manage to make a deal with her in 2006 to sell an LPD amphibious transport dock (a modern type of ship which acts as a dock in the ocean for landing craft, like hovercraft and boats). This is an old fleet, but so far no money has been appropriated to really modernize it.

India's "liberal" and "democratic" credentials have been rough to acquire, liberalizing from being a government really run by bureaucrats. The so called "license raj" has seriously hurt India's economic prospects, as the red tape throughout the country has been a disincentive to entrepreneurship. Corruption is still a part of Indian business and politics, but the decentralized nature of so many linguistic, religious, ethnic, social, and economic groups has kept limited constitutional government in place despite the poverty of the country.US Secretary of State Clinton and Indian Foreign Minister Krishna announced a huge... more