By It is looking like Donald Trump is getting closer and closer to deciding to run for President and the country that will lobby the hardest to stop him from being elected will no doubt be the Chinese:
TRUMP: Because I watch them and I see what they’re doing to the country, and I understand China, and I understand the Chinese mind. I understand where they’re coming from. They are not our friend and when I sit down — I sold an apartment recently for $33 million from a very nice couple from China. Thirty-three million dollars for the apartment, I’m very happy about it, but I sit down with people and I talk to ‘em, from China, and really much more so prior to when I thought I may be running for president, because they’re not stupid people. They’re very smart people. They told me very, very distinctly that they cannot believe how stupid our representatives are in the United States. They cannot believe that they can continue to take all our jobs — you know, through the manipulation of the currency, of their currency, they make it almost impossible for our great companies to compete and – [Rush Limbaugh Show]
I recommend reading the entire transcript because he has much more to say about the Chinese and what he would do about them. Trump blames powerful lobbyists hired by the Chinese for the US government allowing the Chinese to get away with what they are doing. I think a bigger issue is that the US government is addicted to spending and since there is no money left, the politicians need to borrow Chinese money to keep the spending going. Because of this you will hear some politicians talk tough against the Chinese, but none of them take any real action. Would a President Trump take any real action against the Chinese? He may but I don’t know if he could get the Congress and I’m talking both Democrat and Republican to go along with him to implement his recommended economic policies against China.
Anyway the Chinese weren’t the only country he took shots at, South Korea was subject to criticism as well:
TRUMP: Rush, we’re not only talking about this one country. You look at South Korea, what they did. We signed a trade pact that nobody in their right mind would have signed. And it was so bad, and yet they didn’t want to sign it. Now, two months ago when bombs started getting lobbed over by North Korea and we send this incredible aircraft carrier, the George Washington and 17 destroyers heading right to North Korea, all of a sudden they sign and they announce that they are friends of our country. It’s a lot of crap. They make billions of dollars of, let’s call it profit, off the United States, Rush, billions of dollars. Why aren’t they paying for protection? We protect South Korea, and I know the Koreans very well. I had a partnership with the Koreans that was a fantastic partnership. I built Trump World Tower with Daewoo, which was a Korean company, and I did very well and they did very well. So I understand the people. And, by the way, I don’t dislike the Chinese people, I don’t dislike the Korean people, because if I were them I’d be doing the same thing. If our leaders are so stupid that they allow what’s happening — we can’t have jobs created, Rush, in this country if China is making all of our products.
You can read more at the link, but Trump is obviously not very happy about the US-ROK FTA because he feels that even with the FTA the South Korean government is still making it too hard for US companies to sell products in South Korea. Trump also believes that the South Korean government should pay more for military support from the United States such as when the US send aircraft carriers as show of forces against North Korea.
I am not sympathetic to charging for aircraft carriers since this is a response that is part of a defense obligation treaty the US has signed with South Korea. However, I am sympathetic to an effort to get South Korea to pay more than the 43.5% they currently pay for the upkeep of US forces in Korea, which really isn’t 43.5% anyway. South Korea is no longer a poor undeveloped country, I think a 50/50 split of the cost sharing of USFK is more than reasonable, but the Koreans are tough negotiators and continue to get greatly discounted deals from the US. Like Trump says in the interview, you can’t blame the Koreans because the US government allows them to get away with it. It is just good business sense by the Korean government and poor business decisions by the US in regards to USFK cost sharing.
Judging by this interview, if Trump decides to run for President it appears that sound business decisions in the interest of the US is how he is going to run the country if elected.
1:59 pm on March 2nd, 2011 1
You count how many jobs Korean companies in the US employs versus how many US companies employs Koreans in Korea.
You will find that there are far more Korean companies employing American workers in America, then American companies employing Korean workers in Korea. The job losses have been from Korea to America, not the other way around, as always claimed by the liars in Washington and in the US media.
2:00 pm on March 2nd, 2011 2
Americans blaming others for their bankrupt state of affairs on their favorite scapegoats, so what else is new?
2:07 pm on March 2nd, 2011 3
"Judging by this interview, if Trump decides to run for President it appears that sound business decisions in the interest of the US is how he is going to run the country if elected."
Dude, don't be naive. This so-called run for presidency is just a means for him to manipulate public opinion, and ultimately government policy, in a way that will profit him. In other words, he's cutting out the middle-man (i.e. the politician).
2:16 pm on March 2nd, 2011 4
America is a joke. Now they're going to put a president in there that's part of the greedy wall street establishment that brought financial destruction to so many people. If all the white collar corrupt criminals didn't take all the bonuses and free money, they're going to take the government as well.
This is just so funny.
3:33 pm on March 2nd, 2011 5
He will not run. But I would vote for him if he did. At least he has some EXPERIENCE.
WTF were you thinking America?
I have more experience that the dope you elected.
Did you really miss Carter THAT much? Enjoy $5.00 gas this summer!
Sam Kinison Scream: Oh Oh — AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Tom is right but for the wrong reason. We elected a socialist raised in Indonesia, religion listed as his father's which was MUSLIM! No Military or business experience to be President of a country at war with MUSLIMS! No wonder the world does not respect America. We're STUPID! Sam Kinison Scream AGAIN: Oh Oh — AHHHHHHHHHHH
Lets not forget his Christian Leader for twenty years and what HE thinks of America. No. I'm not going to scream again. The hell I'm not: AHHHHHHHHHHHH
Have a nice Socialist day Amerika—
Newt—Newt—Newt
3:34 pm on March 2nd, 2011 6
Guess my comment was too much. It went away.
3:37 pm on March 2nd, 2011 7
"China should have a currency which is a much higher value relative to the dollar and other things. What they're doing is keeping it low, artificially low."
That's some real fine economics work there, Lou.
4:23 pm on March 2nd, 2011 8
I think the guy doesn't understand much about how/why the FTA was signed and supported in South Korea. It has very little, if anything, to do with the North Korean attack on Yŏnpyŏng-do.
And it was not then "they announce that they are friends of our country." This guy is thinks he knows Koreans (and Chinese), but he reveals how little he knows about either. I'm guessing there are a lot of things he thinks he's an expert on that he has at best a sophomoric grasp of.
But rest assured, creepy comments about dating his daughter if she weren't his daughter will be his downfall.
Donald, you're fired!
5:13 pm on March 2nd, 2011 9
Capitalism speaks. All hail the hologram.
6:20 pm on March 2nd, 2011 10
Did he really say 'pay for protection'? Isn't that like racketeering?
6:31 pm on March 2nd, 2011 11
"America is a joke. Now they’re going to put a president in there that’s part of the greedy wall street establishment that brought financial destruction to so many people. If all the white collar corrupt criminals didn’t take all the bonuses and free money, they’re going to take the government as well.
This is just so funny."
No Tommy, America is a joke because many people inside and outside the country believe that the "president" makes the "decisions" and should therefor be "responsible" for all "his" decisions. I believe this includes you, judging by your post #4. The American president is a muppet to many greater bodies of power in the U.S. government.
6:37 pm on March 2nd, 2011 12
Well at least he wasn't confused between s and n korea. But I wonder if he knows about sk sending 300,000 men to Vietnam?
7:00 pm on March 2nd, 2011 13
Tom,
One WORD "Lonestar" is the reason more American companies aren't in S. Korea.
But here is how Koreans(can't manage) employee American workers in America…
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/117075/20110228/u…
7:08 pm on March 2nd, 2011 14
Tom,
"Americans blaming others for their bankrupt state of affairs on their favorite scapegoats, so what else is new?"
Obviously you either can't read(Donald Trump made it clear that the American politicians were at fault, maybe your should actually read the piece). or have forgotten that Koreans are the Kings at scapegoating native English teachers etc…
7:22 pm on March 2nd, 2011 15
#12
Heh, don't get too worked up with TOM. But I think Lonestar got bad press because they didn't pay tax.
I did read the ibtimes.com and it seems like the SK management feels it paid its dues by training unskilled workers.
8:48 pm on March 2nd, 2011 16
Huh? FDI in Korea is at its highest in ten years, so it would seem odd that something that happened in 2003 would be behind that.
Lonestar is a bigger deal among expats looking for a club to beat Korea with than it is among would-be investors outside the K-blog circuit. And many of those expats forget about Lonestar's tax evasion and KEB and Lonestar "'acting in collusion with Lone Star' to understate the assets of the bank, inflate its debts and sell it to Lone Star for a bargain price."
Lonestar was playing dirty and got caught. A company not playing dirty doesn't have to worry about Lonestar's problems, so it doesn't ring true that this is a source for low FDI.
What may drive down FDI is that enticingly cheap market where anything goes right next door, China. Now, if companies were really worried about having problems à la Lonestar (which made quite a profit on KEB when all was said and done, I believe), then they would run the hell away from China, where collusion, forced technology transfers, illegal technology transfers, etc., are quite commonplace. But like moths to a flame, everyone is attracted, including South Korean companies.
And the truth is, just about every country has at least one Lonestar incident. In the US, for example, it might be the DP World controversy of 2006. Heard of that one, Tbone?
Anyway, ask most American businessmen about Lonestar, and they'll think of the state or the country band, not Korea.
9:32 pm on March 2nd, 2011 17
Goldman Sachs, Citi Bank, Lieman Brothers, LoneStar.
All same sides of the same coin. But Expats defend these financial crooks if it involves Korea any shape or form. Nevermind that LoneStar never paid one cent of tax and in the end, still ended up making a fortune in Korea ripping off Korean tax payers.
Go ahead, put Trump as the prez. It would be so funny to see him reward all his Wall Street buddies with more bonuses. Pick off and eat the final bones of Americans who are now living in tent cities.
As for the protection money to send carriers, that one was funny.
9:39 pm on March 2nd, 2011 18
"I did read the ibtimes.com and it seems like the SK management feels it paid its dues by training unskilled workers."
Go to Georgia or Alabama for instance and see what people think about Koreans giving them jobs. Korean companies saved these god forsaken backwater hick towns and turned them into roaring cities. Now these same ungrateful Americans are bad mouthing the Koreans and start talking about protection money and unfair FTA?
10:01 pm on March 2nd, 2011 19
Trump is not stupid but he is not a politician, either. He's a showman and a master of public relations.
Those comments don't sound like the views of a candidate since candidates usually kiss asses. Those comments sound like the comments of someone seeking to influence the selection of the next Presidential candidate and the policy positions of that candidate.
10:49 pm on March 2nd, 2011 20
The US is ~NOT~ "addicted to Chinese money", this is complete and utter BS spread by those who have no idea how our debt works.
External Debt is defined as
"External debt (or foreign debt) is that part of the total debt in a country that is owed to creditors outside the country. The debtors can be the government, corporations or private households. The debt includes money owed to private commercial banks, other governments, or international financial institutions such as the IMF and World Bank."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_debt
The US has 14tn of external debt of that only 4,439bn (4.4tn) is owed to foreign nations. Of that 4.4tn only 1160bn (1.1tn) is owed to China with Japan being at 882bn and the UK being at 272bn. This is on purpose as Japan and China ~really~ don't like each other. China owns only 26.13% of the foreign owned debt which may seem high but is balanced out when compared to the total picture.
Total "debt" for the US Government is currently,
$14,300,411,086,454 USD or 14.3tn
Current monetary assets held by the US Government are,
Social Security Trust
$2,558,310,215,979 USD (2.55tn)
FICA, general accounts and other funds,
$4,649,472,991,637 USD (4.64tn)
All added together the US Government has an actual debt of 9.651tn USD. Social Security is protected by law and can't be used to pay down debt, its numbers are just shown so everyone can see its most definitely now running out.
So out of of the 14.3tn of paper debt China only owns 8.11%, nowhere near enough to have any say on our economy. Out of the real 9.651tn of US Debt they own 12.01%, still not enough. The absolute worst thing that can happen is China decides it won't buy out debt (or the yearly cash interest payments that go with it) anymore and we'll have to either finance it ourselves (that's how we got the majority of our debt) or find someone else to buy it. That is only a bad thing if our country can't pull its head out of its fifth point of contact and live within our means.
This is out national debt works, the US treasury has auctions throughout the year where they sell Treasury bonds, these bonds are auctioned to those who bid with the lowest interest rate, this is how the vast majority of our debt is funded. These are usually sold to US citizens or investment firms (TSP calls them the F fund) and are only redeemable after a certain period of time for a set value (that is the auction part). Foreign debt is similar with other nations bidding against each other for who will buy with the lowest interest rate, lately China's been winning the most (we sell to them because they give the lowest rate). These bonds are special in that they don't accrue value over time and are not redeemable for their original purchase price. Instead they pay a fixed interest rate yearly to the holders of the bonds, this interest rate is what the countries bid against each other for. These bonds represent a form of fixed income for other countries, they give us a few bn and we give them money every year until we decide to pay off the principle. The can technically go on for centuries and represents a stable constant cash inflow for other nations. The US spent $413,954,825,362 USD (413bn) in 2010 on debt interest payments, foreign payments included in that.
If anything I'd be worried about the yearly interest payments rather then the sum total, those interest payments represent a direct outflow of cash as real as any other government expense. We should be redirecting funding from all these crazy projects to pay down the debt and reduce those yearly interest payments, that will have best effect on our children and grandchildren.
As for yes / no on Trump for president, he is currently the only Republican aligned candidate I'd even think about voting for. At least he would fix out nations money issues without being a weeny or a tyrant. He's a businessman, his job is to make money and to provide for the solvency of a corporation. If you want to do butcher a cow you don't go ask the local blacksmith to do it, instead you go ask the fcking butcher.
11:43 pm on March 2nd, 2011 21
탐이 보이 –
Bonuses and free money??
But how is it possible that there are bonuses and free money if America is bankrupt?
11:48 pm on March 2nd, 2011 22
@#6 – I recovered your comment from the Spam Que. When you terms like Obama is a socialist that is a term that spammers often use and the Akismet spam program identifies it as spam. I recommend in the future when using potential spam words to misspell them like Chickenhead does to avoid getting put into the spam que.
12:34 am on March 3rd, 2011 23
Remember…
The word sociialist has the peniis-enhancing Ciialist in it.
The spam filter used to irritate me to no end as I had no idea what the rules were.
Once I started treating it like a puzzle instead of an inconvenience, it became fun to beat.
I still forget to doubble-lettter a restricted word now and then… and, sometimes, it still eats an innocent post for reasons unknown.
If you use Firefox, you simply submit comment and see if it comes up. If the page refreshes without it, just hit the back button and your comment will still be in the comment box ready for inspection, editing, and resubmitting.
You can also copy it to the clipboard and past it back in for resubmitting.
Apart from "sociallist", anything with "cack" in it won't fly either… so you had better write of cackroaches, peacacks, and shuttlecacks.
12:35 am on March 3rd, 2011 24
22 Thank you. Did you like the rant? Soshelist? sosolist? I thought it was the use of "WTF"! I never thought the use of a political name would be spamage.
4:02 am on March 3rd, 2011 25
I always always CTRL-A and CTRL-C my posts before clicking on 'Submit'.
7:23 am on March 3rd, 2011 26
#20
The problem with Chinese money, once you get some, you just get hungry for more later…
7:28 am on March 3rd, 2011 27
#19,
Yes, that's basically what I was saying.
9:31 am on March 3rd, 2011 28
Kushibo,
"(which made quite a profit on KEB when all was said and done, I believe)"
When what was said and done?
"But Tami Overby, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea, said last month that the Lone Star issue "is having a significant negative impact on" foreign direct investment."
"Last month, David Eldon, the chairman of the Dubai International Financial Center Authority, who works as an adviser for Lee, warned against what foreign investors have called a tendency among South Koreans to vilify foreign investors who try to leave the country with huge profits."
"Vilify" — To say the least!
11:09 am on March 3rd, 2011 29
I thought about this more and I say Trump's claim that he heard the Chinese couple (dropping 25 million for an apt) laughing at US for being stupid is B. S.
I just find it hard to believe that some chinese nationals would say something like that to an American. Especially someone who can buy a 25 million dollars apt. I'm not saying rich are all smart or polite but people do get ahead generally by saying the right things, or not saying certain things. it's just so unthinkable. Did the Chinese couple really tell him that in English or was something lost in translation?
IF anything Chinese/korean/asians/everyone-on-the-planet are laughing at US for failing to E D U C A T E our youths. WHAT the hxxl kind of education system has high school drop out rate of 20, 30, 50%?
IF Trump was really annoyed about Chinese laughing US (maybe they do but most certainly bad k-12 education is one), he should be honest with himself and acknowledge everyone else on the plante are laughing at US for failing to educate our youths. Tell him to hire someone to go install hidden cameras in chinese/korean/american-public high schools and see what happens in the classes.
12:24 pm on March 3rd, 2011 30
"I say Trump’s claim that he heard the Chinese couple (dropping 25 million for an apt) laughing at US for being stupid is B. S."
Exactly. Americans are such drama queens. They exaggerate everything to the nth degree.
2:10 pm on March 3rd, 2011 31
tbonetylr wrote:
Whoops. They're about to make a tidy profit:
Wow, I wish I had that kind of trouble.
Of course, what Lonestar whining fails to mention is the tax evasion and stock manipulation. Lonestar is analogous to OJ Simpson, with 외국인 champions of Lonestar analogous to folks back in my old neighborhood of Compton who ignored the evidence and focused only on Mark Fuhrman probably having planted the evidence and having said the N-word a bunch of times on tape.
2:29 pm on March 3rd, 2011 32
Whoops. HERE is the link to the above quoted Reuters article.
10:27 pm on March 3rd, 2011 33
I wonder about that spam filter. One time, I tried to recommend two books, and I named all four authors; my comment disappeared. Maybe the spam filter thought I was a marketing rep for the publishers.
3:38 am on March 4th, 2011 34
Quoting GI Korea
"Judging by this interview, if Trump decides to run for President it appears that sound business decisions in the interest of the US is how he is going to run the country if elected."
I sure hope his sound business decisions include 'training the workforce' to be able to compete. But the reality is his sound business decision is cutting taxes and giving more to those that already have more…
10:04 pm on March 5th, 2011 35
@26,
Except we don't choose to buy from anyone, instead its more of an auction style sale where the one offering the lowest interest rate wins. The Chinese offered the lowest yearly rate and thus we sold our debt to them. If the UK / Japan / Arab nations (we have debt held by all three) offered a lower rate we would of sold to them instead. The Chinese have been buying US debt like crazy because it represents a steady stable long-term cash flow to them, they get those yearly interest payments no matter what happens. Its the same reason the Japanese bought tons of debt years ago.
While I loath China and think their the single greatest threat to the free world (their government is positively evil), they gain absolutely no control over out economy / government by doing so. If they stopped buying debt someone else would do it instead, possibly at a higher rate though. If they tried to "dump" the debt then another country would swoop it up at a cheap rate and they would get the yearly interest payments instead. The debt itself means nothing, the moneys already been given and used and the principle isn't due nor can it be called in.
10:09 pm on March 5th, 2011 36
Then it's settled, China buys more and more until it owns 100 percent of US debt!
Perfect!
11:26 pm on March 5th, 2011 37
Tom,
Believe it or not, being in debt to your enemies and potential enemies is somewhat of a good thing.
If you fail, they lose their investment… so they are grudgingly forced to allow you to succeed… and sometimes they have to follow your minor wishes if you threaten default.
That said, America has gone debt-crazy, money-printing crazy, and trade deficit-crazy.
As there are some VERY smart people running things in America, one wonders if there is an actual plan… or if they are just being reactionary as they try to prolong the ugly inevitable.
The key is to look at what the people in power are doing with their money. If they are buying gold, private islands, farmland, mineral rights, etc., there might be something to worry about.
Hmmm… maybe we should look into this a bit.
9:35 am on April 16th, 2011 38
Unexpected support for the Glans Plan? The Marmot reports on Trump's idea that South Korea should pay for its own defense, and he links to John Derbyshire at NRO. They seem to like Glans Step Two, the US gets out.
9:37 am on April 16th, 2011 39
Glans, the Glans Plan is short-sighted myopia. Trump is an idiot who can't get his facts straight about much of anything (and I'm not talking about Birther claims). Throw your hat in with him at your own peril.
10:52 am on April 16th, 2011 40
I like to see this guy voted in. I really would. Then I hope he does his business and see him and his cohorts loot and rob what's left of the US wealth. LOL. He's even worse than George Bush, and look at what he did to the US economy. He somehow single handedly landed the US in $14 trillion in foreign debt fighting all those wars then creating a greatest bubble in world history to single handedly bring down the US economy, and instead helping China to buy out the US. And these White Americans are going back to the same root, and voting these same types of guy into power. It's hilarious. Well you guys deserve them, because you guys are the ones who are voting them in, you can't blame this on others, silly Americans.
Trump is anti Korean now, but just wait once he gets in power, his tune will change after he sees what's going on behind the scenes. That's what they all do, so don't get your hopes up so much, silly stupid illiterate bankrupt Americans. LOL.
7:06 pm on April 27th, 2011 41
The Chinese people have been contributing to the lives of the Filipinos. In terms of business, we have been influenced by their ways of getting into business. Business is good but you need to take the risk and be able to manage the business well. Thanks.
10:23 pm on April 27th, 2011 42
#37. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain—
11:14 pm on April 27th, 2011 43
Living in a third world country made me admire the American politicians for their fond ideology principles but the more I read about American situation these days the more I realize that politicians are the same clowns everywhere and the only difference is that some make their “jokes” in English, Portuguese, Korean, etc …
I blame the banks in America for American financial and cultural mess…
12:04 am on April 28th, 2011 44
#40 thinks Bush is still running DC…
4:24 am on June 11th, 2011 45
hell, We need to destroy south korea, Now, because of racketeering with the new black panther party…abuse, genocide, marauders,..transmittered imagery…Remember Western Atlas….Im The Employed Persons, at Baker Atlas…fire connie park…Prove their racketeers, there, Donald Trump..The Pentagon, 703-571-3343, Department Of Defense..