My irony meter is, again.
h/t Tyler O’Neil at PJMedia
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Monthly Archives: March 2018
A Step in the Right Direction
President Donald Trump and Congress have finalized an agreement with the Republic of China that allows unrestricted two-way travel for officials from the United States and Taiwan, thus restoring direct official US contacts with the RoC.
Now we need to take the next step: exchange embassies with the RoC. In parallel with all of that, we need to resume patrols of the Taiwan Strait and help the RoC upgrade their military’s capability, both offensive and defensive—especially the former, since merely parrying blows does not hurt the attacker enough to force it to stop.
Banking Reform
The Senate has passed a bill that greatly diminishes Dodd-Frank’s interference with our banking industry by easing the regulatory burden on financial institutions lesser than the half-dozen or so that have been (mistakenly, IMNSHO) designated systemically important.
There’s concern about the willingness of the Progressive-Democrats who voted for it (including voting to get it past cloture) to vote for it again were it to come back from the House changed in any way. Republican Senators, as a result, want the House to pass the bill as it is, without alteration or delay.
Many in the House, and The Wall Street Journal, whose op-ed prompted this post, demur and want more reforms added.
Republican Senators’ concerns about the timidity of the Progressive-Democrats and their willingness to vote favorably again is valid, though, and the House altering the bill and forcing that second vote in the Senate is unnecessarily risky. It might cost the entire bill.
Another path is for the House to take the bird in hand and pass it, preserving the partial reforms. Then they should pass their own bill containing the remaining items of interest. At that point Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R, KY) and his banking committee Senators should force a vote on the House bill, putting all the Progressive-Democrat Senators on the voting record as favoring or disfavoring banking reform. In an election year.
The PRC and Intellectual Property Theft
In the absence of any serious legal protections against intellectual property theft in the People’s Republic of China, businesses operating there are engaging more and more in sweeping conference rooms there for bugs and equipping personnel with sanitary burner phones for use while in the PRC.
That’s a start for those willing to put their proprietary information at risk through a business venture inside the PRC or with a PRC-based business anywhere, but it’s inadequate by itself, as illustrated by this bit of naivete by the linked-to piece’s author:
Mr Trump wants China to unwind policies that require auto makers, cloud service providers and others to share technology with Chinese partners for the right to operate here. …for example, operate in 50-50 joint ventures with Chinese partners.
Those technology transfers, however, are distinct from the outright theft some companies say they face.
The distinction is little different from the distinction between extortion and robbery. President Donald Trump needs to take concrete action to encourage the PRC to eliminate those policies.
Where national security information would be at risk, CFIUS needs to get more active.
Congress needs to take complementary action: perhaps barring companies from sharing their proprietary information, perhaps requiring companies wanting to do business with PRC-based companies or within the PRC to retain a controlling share of any partnership, perhaps other steps, also.
I am Shocked, Shocked
Recall Amazon.com’s playing off of several cities against each other in order to maximize the tax breaks and other returns that company might get for building its second headquarters in the “winning” city. Now we discover this in the offing:
US cities vying for Amazon.com Inc’s second headquarters risk facing an unexpected consequence to victory: other companies will demand the same hefty tax breaks conferred on the online retail giant.
How amazing is that? Other companies want in on the goodies.
I’m not shocked at that; I’m shocked that those cities’ managers didn’t see this coming. Their lack of anticipation speaks poorly of their ability to respond to those demands.
It also speaks poorly of the competence of those cities’ managers.