2
POPSChina: Stimulus Appears To Kick In. China had a massive (relative to economic size) stimulus that is _investing_ in the country's infrastructure. Obama's stimulus, also beginning to show signs of helping the economy, has been hampered by old guard thinking that promotes destructive and vicious partisanship and thinks that the only solution to any economic problem is more tax cuts. Will this be seen as the moment where backward thinking and vicious partisan politics in the U.S. hampered our response and opened the door to Chinese supremacy in Asia? Let's hope not.
3
POPSWho's Century Will It Be?
Will this shift in the balance of power be a re-centering de-hegemonization of power or will it move the center to a new capital? The Reagan-Bush paradigm had us spend many years of social and ecological “savings”, basic social and environmental investments were tapped into and turned into cash and everyone had a good time. It was sort of like being given an inheritance and throwing a huge party. At the end we’ll remember these days as full of wealth but there will be an empty shell of a social safety net, food that is not safe to eat, drugs that may be dangerous or do nothing. We are massively in debt and beholden to China. Our middle class has shrunk and we now have the largest wealth discrepancy of the developed world. Our ignore-ance of the problems of fossil fuels has given us rising sea levels and acidifying oceans. These are the fruits of the grand party we’ve thrown ourselves for the last 29 years. What is now obvious is that the Reagan-Bush economic doctrine, cou
4
POPSChinese ships 'harass' US vessel China is flexing its muscle in its seas. How long before the U.S. flexes back? If China is going to use the possible dumping of U.S. investments as leverage should we force her hand? We need to keep in mind though that the U.S. military budget dwarfs that of China's.
4
POPSInternational law should govern release of GM mosquitoes This brings up an interesting point - what is the role of the nation state as the world "internationalizes"? What good are EPA regulations when we breath polluted air from China? What good are European regulations on CO2 when the U.S. wont regulate? How does the U.S. compete in stem cell research when it has restrictions on funding? The nation state is no longer the venue for prevention of things like cloning, bacterial engineering, genetic selection, GM foods, etc. We may restrict cloning in the States, but then cloning moves to Mexico or China.
3
POPSThe Environment and Well-Being in Urban China Well sort of a "no duh" moment. My problem (having read the abstract only) is that the authors did not deconvolve sulfur dioxide emissions from environmental disasters from traffic congestion. Perhaps a full reading is in order before that criticism is fully lodged.
0
POPSYouTube: The Great FireWall Strikes Again A modern nation and modern economy cannot function without some minimum of open information. A modern economy and innovation is reliant upon the consistency of services. On both counts China fails. Will China's political institutions modernize in step with their economy? Or will the CPC be so fearful of change that they would rather squelch future growth and modernization. I guess with present growth at about 11% they've chosen the second option. My bets are that they will not be able to maintain growth and a closed society at the same time for much longer.
2
POPSChina: Environmental Cost of Rapid Growth Grim. Pollution has made cancer China’s leading cause of death, the Ministry of Health says. Ambient air pollution alone is blamed for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. Nearly 500 million people lack access to safe drinking water. Environmental woes that might be considered catastrophic in some countries can seem commonplace in China: industrial cities where people rarely see the sun; children killed or sickened by lead poisoning or other types of local pollution
4
POPSChina: High Tech Big Brother China's emerging present, the Big Brother police state meets technology so as to track everyone's every move. Soon to come to a nation near you. I mean, what do you have to fear if you are not committing a crime, right? What better way to track terrorists right?
6
POPSCO2 Emissions: China Takes Lead It came a little earlier than expected but only by a year or two. Though if you look at it on a per-capita basis, well... China is way down the list.
9
POPSDon't like your adopted child? Trade her in for another one. Something about this strikes me as very wrong, but also very understandable and perhaps even rational. Via Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution . See also this New York Times piece written by a mother in a similar situation--she and her husband made a different decision than the New Jersey couple.
4
POPSChina's Environmental Blame Game The rapidly approaching Olympic Games have brought an unwelcome spotlight on China’s environmental situation.Beijingwon its Olympics bid with the promise of the world’s first “green” games. Five years later, there is no talk of a green Olympics, only of how extensive a shutdown of industry and transportation will be needed in Beijing and surrounding provinces just to ensure that the athletes can breathe.
Newest Clips
see Newest Clips
5
Latest Pops
Latest Comments
Most Pops
Tags
Print
Save
Turn on live update