In the latest episode of 60 Minutes (Sunday, April 6, 2008), the weekly investigative news show does a segment on China’s Sovereign-Wealth Fund, which has about $200 billion in assets, in “China Investment An Open Book? Sovereign-Wealth Fund’s President Promises Transparency“. According to Wikipedia, “a sovereign wealth fund (SWF) is a state-owned fund composed of financial assets such as stocks, bonds, property or other financial instruments.” As much as one might want to hate and fear China, this segment reminds me a lot of “the Japanese are buying America” syndrome that was feared in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, which of course, was severely overstated.
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Bo wrote:
I agree. China recently “unfixed” their currency and are allowing it to float within a tightly controlled range of value. Eventually they’ll have to loosen their control and when that happens I’m betting that nature will rapidly take its course and costs within China will skyrocket. The cost of labor and raw goods will increase and China will no longer be as affordable.
Posted on 08-Apr-08 at 6:35 am | Permalink
ancient one wrote:
China’s costs are already said to be rising, and companies are starting to look for other places to manufacture that are even cheaper, like Vietnam. Here is one article that mentions this:
http://www.eeo.com.cn/ens/Industry/2008/04/01/95835.html
I am sure that there are others.
Americans may complain about these sovereign funds, but as long as the US savings rate stays abysmal and we Americans insist on spending more than they earn (from personal spending to the Federal Government and overall national balance of payments), we are going to need them.
Posted on 08-Apr-08 at 7:13 pm | Permalink