When I first read the headline, I thought the US was spending this money to train Chinese girls into prostitutes.

Oh well...

Good point. According to recent WSJ report the average current Chinese labor rate is $0.86/hr. The hookers will be better off working an extra hour instead of attending a short course on drinking.

Drift Away

"face-to-face communication with various cultures will bring you unexpectedly pleasant surprises."

Right-o:

http://forum.myredbook.com/dcforum2/User_files2/35i8mv36qvx1b8t8.jpg

__________
Rompe Palle

" The U.S. national debt now stands at more than $8.3 trillion, of which more than $2 trillion is owned by foreigners. Since 2000, the percentage of U.S. public debt owed to foreigners has doubled.

Take China for example. As of March of this year, China held over $321 billion worth of U.S. Treasuries, up from the $60 billion it owned at the end of 2000. Similarly, Japan now owns $640 billion worth of U.S. Treasuries, up from $317.7 billion in December 2000. "

You see, this is all just public relations, or more specifically, "political relations".

If China stops financing U.S. debt, those wars go a bye-bye and so does this economy and perhaps the global economy.

Europe is in a tailspin, and China is growing still.

2.6 million is nothing/paltry and is no doubt viewed as a "token gift/gesture" nations give to one another. It's smart and very little money to grease relations amongst powerful nations.

That money should be spent educating hookers in Atlanta, DC, Detroit, Oakland, the Tenderloin, etc. Hookerdumb exists in just about every society in the world.

Well we did get spared from guaranteed U.S. Depression and possible Global Depression and worldwide economic chaos.

Now we have a milder form.

That's one way to fight global warming.

Fractional reserve banking is the real problem... It steals from us all.

Not that simple. Printing more money causes inflation. Then every nation who trades with the U.S. would want to denominate in some other currency. Agreed their economy would be severely hurt, but they are holding onto interest that we would have to pay them. Sooner or later, debt has to be repaid but in this instance, their is contraction for us, but not China.

>Fractional reserve banking is the real problem... It steals
>from us all.

Totally true. But the greater danger was the derivatives/CDS/SIVs that enabled a mania that should've never occurred, and now is still causing kinks in the financial system. It will take a long time to work it's way out of the system.

Just look at Korea when they went through their financial crisis (fueled by loose regulation, corruption in the financial/banking sector, and yes, stupidity of bubble mania).

Japan went through it as well (deflation) but the Japanese Gov't intervention and its central bank leveled the fall, which ultimately dragged it out longer. This is what we are and will continue to go through. These things take a lot longer to sort out, and the saving grace for the Japanese is that as a nation they are historically savers. The U.S. is a debt-laden society.

Consumer spending will no doubt be off (lower) in the near and perhaps distant future for most, until all this debt sorts itself out. Since consumer spending (which makes for 2/3rds of the economy) will be lower, then you have contraction. Problem is, you have highly leveraged debt and housing that has contracted quite a bit. Turbulence still ahead?

OK, enough of economics, lest the moderator move this thread to the Community Hall.

I received an inbox from a guy who boasted that he only pays $160 to train Chinese prostitutes.

Oh well. It is a fucked up year for Chi-Coms.

There are no easy solutions and no quick answers to what the previous boneheaded regime did to this country and the global economy in 8 years.

Now let's talk about prostitutes, should we?

The Act was the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, also known as the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999. Since both House and Senate was Republican controlled, it was going to pass regardless, and after the Democrats and Prez Bill Clinton inserted demands and reconstructed the Bill to "swallowable" form, it was politically altered and brokered to be acceptable in swaying enough votes (on the Democrats side) and to avoid veto by the 42nd President, perhaps the Greatest U.S. President, our homie, Bill Clinton. You can't blame Bill Clinton for this, blame the 3 authors Phil Gramm (R-Texas), Jim Leach (R-Iowa), and Thomas Bliley (R-Virginia), and the list of all the Republicans that stood to gain and followed their partisan party lines as usual. Steadfast, Staunch, and Selfish Republicans in Solidarity.

First Senate Vote (May 6,1999):

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=s1999-105

Second Senate Vote for passage after major Democrat addendums to that original "GLBA" (Nov. 4,1999) :

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=s1999-354

House Vote for passage of the amended "GLBA" (Nov. 4,1999)- "Gramm-Leach-Bliley-Act" :

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h1999-570

Here's some info on that GLBA Bill and the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramm%E2%80%93Leach%E2%80%93Bliley_Act

Here's the Republican that thought this would be his claim to fame and definitely fortune. Again, another dude from Texas just like the shrub guy.

http://banking.senate.gov/prel99/1104grm.htm

Now, if you notice most of the "Nays" from the voting of the bill, it was predominantly our smart/wise politicians from the Blue State of California. We should be calling the shots. CA, after all, is the economic powerhouse of all States in the Union.

Now back to talk about prostitutes:

Yes, this has affected how we are able to hobby and the providers (all providers) ability to earn, because they are affected because we are affected. They are dependent on us.