I decided, rather than jump in here, to post my thoughts on who bears the stain of Enron as a full-fledged post

http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2006/05/26/enron_clinton/index.html

Sean -- it's not impossible that it's cheaper to ship stuff by train and container from the U.S. to coastal processing plants in China, than to ship soybeans from inland China to the cost via overburdened railroads and small highways. That is one of the paradoxes of globalization.

But I don't know for sure.

I admit, I was a little confused by the patent filing myself, which seemed to indicated that this was a form of thermal polymerization similar to Changing World's process, rather than something different. I may have been hasty with my link to that filing, which was one of the few things I could find with Christian Koch's name on it. I'll keep looking.

Much appreciated to get your insight! This is a good conversation.

(Alas, I have no time to jump in myself, as I must feed the blog.)

i'll fix that eva-evo mistake.

funny, Camille, I had cut and pasted the same graphs out of Roach's article, before I settled on watching the conference as my job for the day..

How on earth this particular post is example of my right-wing market fundamentalism is beyond me, but I'll console myself by noting that just a week ago, my post on labor legislation in China had a reader castigating me for my "totally onesided fawning over the proposed labor legislation in China and disparagement of business leaders."

As far as I'm concerned, I'm doing something right if right-wingers think I'm a Communist and readers like Marion Delgado think I'm a right-winger. But I don't think either of those opinions reveals someone who is reading me very carefully.

yes, camille, I think that post makes the key point that the real problem is not whether China gains more than the U.S. from trade, but that the distribution of gains in the United States is a travesty.

kookibear,

i've been a full-time employee of Salon for nigh on ten years now, which is pretty amazing, but for awhile I hid behind the scenes as an editor.

thanks!

China Law Blog asks what I think about that new UN Report -- well, that's the one that I started reading that led to the Rodrik paper, which distracted me for the rest of the day. Today, I aim to try to finish it!

and the point made by noryungi about weak and strong states is critical, yes.

parliament, i believe, but I'd better check.

Andres

the list of ten countries are the ones that China has trade deficits with, not surpluses. it has a trade deficit with Angola because it imports so much oil from Angola.

mitch,

my personal opinion would be that punitive tariffs would not be the wisest industrial policy for the _U.S._ to engage in, but that's a horse to beat in another post...

that is a good question, and I don't have a great answer.

i think ultimately that developed countries have fewer options than developing countries, and that's as it should be, since nations with dynamic economies that are able to shift resources from sector to sector with comparative ease can adapt to global realities a lot better than lesser developed countries.

I really hate making sloppy errors like that.

It's been corrected. Thanks for pointing it out.

I was an original fan.

I even wrote about Xena for Salon, waaaaaay back in the day.

http://archive.salon.com/july97/21st/xena970703.html

I spent four years in Michigan drinking Strohs, and have pounded more than a few Bud longnecks in my time. But I'll stand by my opinion that beer selection generally gets worse the further you get from urban centers and coastal regions. There are exceptions, to be sure, and I didn't mean to imply in my piece that what change _has_ occurred happened yesterday. I have been greatly pleased, in fact, by the spread of Sierra into supermarkets and corner stores across the country over the past decade. That's progress!

The Wall Street Journal's reporting documented that consumption of imported beer has been rising in the Midwest. That rise has lagged a similar rise on the coasts.

Contemplating the reasons for that and seeing it as a positive thing should not be an excuse for accusing me of living in a bubble.

Although, I like my bubble, thank you very much.

whoops!

urk.

argh.

I goofed on the homo sapiens and bigger brains. I should have known better -- my mother is a brain scientist. Also, I did not realize that neanderthals would also be considered humans. Mea culpa. I'll update.

you're absolutely right, charlie. serves me right for getting cute.

i dunno dan, the data out today about existing home sales brings us the worst numbers in two and a half years. Flippers were definitely a big part of it, but if the downturn continues another six months, real people are going to suffer.

Thanks for adding that level of detail. You're absolutely right about the petrochemical industry, of course -- though it's not for lack of industry attempts to get over.

I've been away from Taiwan too long -- I really need to study up.