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U.S. Businesses
Meet Your New Boss: Buying Large Employers Will Enable China To Dominate 1000s Of U.S. Communities
June 6, 2013 by Michael Snyder
Are you ready for a future where China will employ millions of American workers and dominate thousands of small communities all over the United States? Such a future would be unimaginable to many Americans, but the truth is that it is already starting to happen. Chinese acquisition of U.S. businesses set a new all-time record last year, and it is on pace to absolutely shatter that record this year. Meanwhile, China is voraciously gobbling up real estate and is establishing economic beachheads all over America. If China continues to build economic power inside the United States, it will eventually become the dominant economic force in thousands of small communities all over the nation. Just think about what the Smithfield Foods acquisition alone will mean. Smithfield Foods is the largest pork producer and processor in the world. It has facilities in 26 U.S. states and it employs tens of thousands of Americans. It directly owns 460 farms and has contracts with approximately 2,100 others. But now a Chinese company has bought it for $4.7 billion, and that means that the Chinese will now be the most important employer in dozens of rural communities all over America. If you don't think that this is important, you haven't been paying much attention to what has been going on in the world. Thanks in part to our massively bloated trade deficit with China, the Chinese have trillions of dollars to spend. They are only just starting to exercise their economic muscles.
And it is important to keep in mind that there is often not much of a difference between "the Chinese government" and "Chinese corporations". In 2011, 43 percent of all profits in China were produced by companies that the Chinese government had a controlling interest in. Americans are accustomed to thinking of "government" and "business" as being separate things, but in China they are often one and the same. Even when there is a separation in ownership, the reality is that no major Chinese corporation is going to go against the authority and guidance of the Chinese government. The relationship between government and business in China is much different than it is in the United States.
Over the past several years, Chinese companies have become increasingly aggressive. Last year a Chinese company spent $2.6 billion to purchase AMC entertainment – one of the largest movie theater chains in the United States. Now that Chinese company controls more movie ticket sales than anyone else in the world. At the time, that was the largest acquisition of a U.S. firm by a Chinese company, but now the Smithfield Foods deal has greatly surpassed that.
But China is not just relying on acquisitions to expand its economic power. The truth is that "economic beachheads" are being established all over America. For example, Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube Group, Inc. recently broke ground on a $100 million plant in Thomasville, Alabama. I am sure that many of the residents of Thomasville, Alabama will be glad to have jobs, but it will also become yet another community that will now be heavily dependent on communist China.
And guess where else Chinese companies are putting down roots?
Detroit.
Yes, the poster child for the deindustrialization of America is being invaded by the Chinese. The following comes from a recent CNBC article…
Dozens of companies from China are putting down roots in Detroit, part of the country's steady push into the American auto industry.
Chinese-owned companies are investing in American businesses and new vehicle technology, selling everything from seat belts to shock absorbers in retail stores, and hiring experienced engineers and designers in an effort to soak up the talent and expertise of domestic automakers and their suppliers.
If you recently purchased an "American-made vehicle", there is a really good chance that it has Chinese parts in it.
In fact, it is becoming harder and harder to get auto parts that are actually made in America by American companies. A lot of those companies are dying off. One example of this is a battery maker that had received $132 million from the federal government that was recently gobbled up by a huge Chinese corporation…
Industry analysts are hard-pressed to put a number on the Chinese suppliers operating in the United States. "We simply don't know how many there are," said David Andrea, an official with the Original Equipment Suppliers Association, a trade organization for auto parts makers.
In one of the more prominent deals, the Wanxiang Group bought most of the assets of the battery maker A123 Systems, which filed for bankruptcy last year despite receiving $132 million of $249 million in federal grants to build two factories in Michigan.
Congressional Republicans criticized the deal, saying A123's technology could support military applications in China. Still, the buyout was approved this year by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a federal government panel.
China seems particularly interested in acquiring energy resources in the United States. For example, did you know that China is actually mining for coal in the mountains of Tennessee?
Guizhou Gouchuang Energy Holdings Group spent 616 million dollars to acquire Triple H Coal Co. in Jacksboro, Tennessee. At the time, that acquisition really didn't make much news, but now a group of conservatives in Tennessee is trying to stop the Chinese from blowing up their mountains and taking their coal. The following is from a Wall Street Journal article back in March…
The Tennessee Conservative Union began airing an ad Tuesday that says lawmakers have failed to protect the state's scenic mountains and are allowing the "Chinese to destroy our mountains and take our coal…the same folks who hold our debt."
But when it comes to our energy resources, China has been most interested in our oil and natural gas. It is a complete and total mystery why the federal government would allow China to buy up our precious domestic sources of energy, but it is happening. The following is a list of some of the oil and natural gas deals that China has been involved in during the last few years that was compiled by the Wall Street Journal…
Colorado: Cnooc gained a one-third stake in 800,000 acres in northeast Colorado and southeast Wyoming in a $1.27 billion pact with Chesapeake Energy Corp.
Louisiana: Sinopec has a one-third interest in 265,000 acres in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale after a broader $2.5-billion deal with Devon Energy.
Michigan: Sinopec gained a one-third interest in 350,000 acres in a larger $2.5 billion deal with Devon Energy.
Ohio: Sinopec acquired a one-third stake in Devon Energy's 235,000 Utica Shale acres in a larger $2.5 billion deal.
Oklahoma: Sinopec has a one-third interest in 215,000 acres in a broader $2.5 billion deal with Devon Energy.
Texas: Cnooc acquired a one-third interest in Chesapeake Energy's 600,000 acres in the Eagle Ford Shale in a $2.16-billion deal.
Wyoming: Cnooc has a one-third stake in 800,000 acres in northeast Colorado and southeast Wyoming after a $1.27 billion pact with Chesapeake Energy. Sinopec gained a one-third interest in Devon Energy's 320,000 acres as part of a larger $2.5 billion deal.
Gulf of Mexico: Cnooc Ltd. separately acquired minority stakes in some of Statoil ASA's leases as well as six of Nexen Inc.'s deep-water wells.
How could we be so stupid?
Sadly, as our politicians endlessly bicker China just continues to aggressively push ahead.
And pretty soon China may want to build entire cities in the United States just like they have been doing in other countries. According to Bloomberg, right now China is actually building a city larger than Manhattan just outside of the capital of Belarus…
China is building an entire city in the forests near the Belarusian capital Minsk to create a manufacturing springboard between the European Union and Russia.
Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko allotted an area 40 percent larger than Manhattan around Minsk's international airport for the $5 billion development, which will include enough housing to accommodate 155,000 people, according to Chinese and Belarusian officials.
And this is actually already happening on a much smaller scale in this country. For example, as I have written about previously, a Chinese company known as "Sino-Michigan Properties LLC" has purchased 200 acres of land near the little town of Milan, Michigan. Their stated goal is to construct a "China City" that has artificial lakes, a Chinese cultural center and hundreds of housing units for Chinese citizens.
In other cases, large chunks of real estate in the middle of major U.S. cities are being gobbled up by Chinese "investors". Just check out what a Fortune article from a while back says has been happening in Toledo, Ohio…
In March 2011, Chinese investors paid $2.15 million cash for a restaurant complex on the Maumee River in Toledo, Ohio. Soon they put down another $3.8 million on 69 acres of newly decontaminated land in the city's Marina District, promising to invest $200 million in a new residential-commercial development. That September, another Chinese firm spent $3 million for an aging hotel across a nearby bridge with a view of the minor league ballpark.
Are you starting to get the picture?
China is on the rise and America is in decline. If you doubt this, just read the following list of facts which comes from one of my previous articles entitled "40 Ways That China Is Beating America"…
#1 As I mentioned above, when you total up all imports and exports of goods, China is now the number one trading nation on the entire planet.
#2 During 2012, we sold about 110 billion dollars worth of stuff to the Chinese, but they sold about 425 billion dollars worth of stuff to us. That was the largest trade deficit that one nation has had with another nation in the history of the world.
#3 Overall, the U.S. has run a trade deficit with China over the past decade that comes to more than 2.3 trillion dollars.
#4 China now has the largest new car market in the entire world.
#5 China has more foreign currency reserves than anyone else on the planet.
#6 China is the number one gold producer in the world.
#7 China is also the number one gold importer in the world.
#8 The uniforms for the U.S. Olympic team were made in China.
#9 85 percent of all artificial Christmas trees are made in China.
#10 The new World Trade Center tower is going to include glass that has been imported from China.
#11 The new Martin Luther King memorial on the National Mall was made in China.
#12 One of the reasons it is so hard to export stuff to China is because of their tariffs. According to the New York Times, a Jeep Grand Cherokee that costs $27,490 in the United States costs about $85,000 in China thanks to all the tariffs.
#13 The Chinese economy has grown 7 times faster than the U.S. economy has over the past decade.
#14 The United States has lost a staggering 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.
#15 The United States has lost an average of 50,000 manufacturing jobs per month since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.
#16 Overall, the United States has lost a total of more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities since 2001.
#17 According to the Economic Policy Institute, America is losing half a million jobs to China every single year.
#18 China now produces more than twice as many automobiles as the United States does.
#19 Since the auto industry bailout, approximately 70 percent of all GM vehicles have been built outside the United States.
#20 After being bailed out by U.S. taxpayers, General Motors is currently involved in 11 joint ventures with companies owned by the Chinese government. The price for entering into many of these "joint ventures" was a transfer of "state of the art technology" from General Motors to the communist Chinese.
#21 Back in 1998, the United States had 25 percent of the world's high-tech export market and China had just 10 percent. Ten years later, the United States had less than 15 percent and China's share had soared to 20 percent.
#22 The United States has lost more than a quarter of all of its high-tech manufacturing jobs over the past ten years.
#23 China's number one export to the U.S. is computer equipment, but the number one U.S. export to China is "scrap and trash".
#24 The U.S. trade deficit with China is now more than 30 times larger than it was back in 1990.
#25 China now consumes more energy than the United States does.
#26 China is now the leading manufacturer of goods in the entire world.
#27 China uses more cement than the rest of the world combined.
#28 China is now the number one producer of wind and solar power on the entire globe.
#29 There are more pigs in China than in the next 43 pork producing nations combined.
#30 Today, China produces nearly twice as much beer as the United States does.
#31 Right now, China is producing more than three times as much coal as the United States does.
#33 China now produces 11 times as much steel as the United States does.
#34 China produces more than 90 percent of the global supply of rare earth elements.
#35 China is now the number one supplier of components that are critical to the operation of U.S. defense systems.
#36 A recent investigation by the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services found more than one million counterfeit Chinese parts in the Department of Defense supply chain.
#37 15 years ago, China was 14th in the world in published scientific research articles. But now, China is expected to pass the United States and become number one very shortly.
#38 China now awards more doctoral degrees in engineering each year than the United States does.
#39 The average household debt load in the United States is 136% of average household income. In China, the average household debt load is 17% of average household income.
#40 The Chinese have begun to buy up huge amounts of U.S. real estate. In fact, Chinese citizens purchased one out of every ten homes that were sold in the state of California in 2011.
And what we have seen so far may just be the tip of the iceberg as far as Chinese "investment" in U.S. real estate is concerned. The following is a brief excerpt from a Bloomberg article that was posted just last week…
China is studying the possibility of investing a portion of its $3.4 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves in U.S. real estate, said two people with direct knowledge of the situation.
The State Administration of Foreign Exchange began the study after seeing signs of a recovery in the U.S. property market, said the people, who asked not to be identified as they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the matter. China may acquire properties, invest in real estate funds or buy stakes in property companies, they said. The safety of the investments will be the top priority, said the people, who didn't elaborate on a timetable or other details.
So what can we do about all of this?
Unfortunately, not a whole lot. Both major political parties seem to be fully convinced that merging our economy with the economy of communist China is a great idea. I would not expect major changes in our policies regarding China any time soon.
For now, I will just leave you with one piece of advice…
Learn to speak Chinese. You might need it someday.
Categories CommentaryTags America, American Workers, China, Chinese, Communist China, Economic Power, Employer, Farms, Future, Large Employers, Real Estate, Smithfield Foods, The United States, Trade Deficit, U.S. Businesses214 Comments
Does China Plan To Establish "China Cities" And "Special Economic Zones" All Over America?
What in the world is China up to? Over the past several years, the Chinese government and large Chinese corporations (which are often at least partially owned by the government) have been systematically buying up businesses, homes, farmland, real estate, infrastructure and natural resources all over America. In some cases, China appears to be attempting to purchase entire communities in one fell swoop. So why is this happening? Is this some form of "economic colonization" that is taking place? Some have speculated that China may be intending to establish "special economic zones" inside the United States modeled after the very successful Chinese city of Shenzhen. Back in the 1970s, Shenzhen was just a very small fishing village, but now it is a sprawling metropolis of over 14 million people. Initially, these "special economic zones" were only established within China, but now the Chinese government has been buying huge tracts of land in foreign countries such as Nigeria and establishing special economic zones in those nations. So could such a thing actually happen in America? Well, according to Dr. Jerome Corsi, a plan being pushed by the Chinese Central Bank would set up "development zones" in the United States that would allow China to "establish Chinese-owned businesses and bring in its citizens to the U.S. to work." Under the plan, some of the $1.17 trillion that the U.S. owes China would be converted from debt to "equity". As a result, "China would own U.S. businesses, U.S. infrastructure and U.S. high-value land, all with a U.S. government guarantee against loss." Does all of this sound far-fetched? Well, it isn't. In fact, the economic colonization of America is already far more advanced than most Americans would dare to imagine.
So how in the world did we get to this point? A few decades ago, the United States was the unchallenged economic powerhouse of the world and China was essentially a third world country.
Well, we entered into a whole bunch of extremely unfavorable "free trade" agreements, and countries such as China began to aggressively use "free trade" as an economic weapon against us.
Over the past decade, we have lost tens of thousands of businesses and millions of jobs to China. When the final numbers for 2012 come out, our trade deficit with China for the year will be well over 300 billion dollars, and that will be the largest trade deficit that one country has had with another country in the history of the world.
Overall, the U.S. has run a trade deficit with China over the past decade that comes to more than 2.3 trillion dollars. That 2.3 trillion dollars could have gone to U.S. businesses and U.S. workers, and in turn taxes would have been paid on all of that money. But instead, all of that money went to China.
Rather than just sitting on all of that money, China has been lending much of it back to us – at interest. We now owe China more than a trillion dollars, and our politicians are constantly pleading with China to lend more money to us so that we can finance our exploding debt.
Today, the U.S. government pays China approximately 100 million dollars a day in interest on the debt that we owe them. Those that say that the U.S. debt "does not matter" are being incredibly foolish.
So thanks to our massive trade deficit and our exploding national debt, China is systematically getting wealthier and the United States is systematically getting poorer.
And now China is starting to use a lot of that wealth to aggressively expand their power and influence around the globe.
But isn't it more than a bit far-fetched to suggest that China may be planning to establish Chinese cities and special economic zones in America?
Just look at what has already happened up in Canada. It is well-known that the Chinese population of Vancouver, Canada has absolutely exploded in recent years. In fact, the Vancouver suburb of Richmond is now approximately half Chinese. The following is an excerpt from a BBC article…
Richmond is North America's most Asian city – 50% of residents here identify themselves as Chinese. But it's not just here that the Chinese community in British Columbia (BC) – some 407,000 strong – has left its mark. All across Vancouver, Chinese-Canadians have helped shape the local landscape.
A similar thing is happening in many communities along the west coast of the United States. In fact, Chinese citizens purchased one out of every ten homes that were sold in the state of California in 2011.
But in other areas of the United States, the Chinese are approaching things much more systematically.
For example, as I have written about previously, a Chinese group identified as "Sino-Michigan Properties LLC" has purchased 200 acres of land near the town of Milan, Michigan. Their stated goal is to build a "China City" that has artificial lakes, a Chinese cultural center and hundreds of housing units for Chinese citizens.
In other instances, large chunks of real estate in major U.S. cities that are down on their luck are being snapped up by Chinese investors. Just check out what a Fortune article from a while back says has been happening over in Toledo, Ohio…
Toledo is being promoted to Chinese investors as a "5-star logistics region". From Toledo it is very easy to get to Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Columbus and Indianapolis…
With a population of 287,000, Toledo is only the fourth largest city in Ohio, but it lies at the junction of two important highways — I-75 and I-80/90. "My vision is to make Toledo a true international city," Toledo's Mayor Mike Bell told the Toledo Blade.
But some of these deals appear to be about far more than just making "investments". According to the Idaho Statesman, a Chinese company known as Sinomach (which is actually controlled by the Chinese government) was actually interested in developing a 50 square mile self-sustaining "technology zone" south of the Boise airport…
A Chinese national company is interested in developing a 10,000- to 30,000-acre technology zone for industry, retail centers and homes south of the Boise Airport.
Officials of the China National Machinery Industry Corp. have broached the idea — based on a concept popular in China today — to city and state leaders.
The article suggested that this "technology zone" would be modeled after similar projects that already exist in China, and that Chinese officials were conducting similar negotiations with other U.S. states as well…
Sinomach is not looking only at Idaho.
The company sent delegations to Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania this year to talk about setting up research and development bases and industrial parks. It has an interest in electric transmission projects and alternative energy as well.
The technology zone proposal follows a model of science, technology and industrial parks in China — often fully contained cities with all services included.
Thankfully the deal in Idaho appears to be stalled for now, but could we soon see China establish special economic zones in other communities all around America?
The Chinese certainly do seem to be laying the groundwork for something. They have been voraciously gobbling up important infrastructure all over the country. The following comes from a recent American Free Press article…
In addition to already owning vital ports in Long Beach, Calif. and Boston, Mass., the China Ocean Shipping Company is eyeing major ports on the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico. China also owns access to ports at the entry and exit points of the Panama Canal.
And due to fiscal woes plaguing many American cities and states, U.S. legislators have been actively seeking out Chinese investors. In one of the worst cases, Baton Rouge, La., Mayor Kip Holden offered the Chinese government ownership and operating rights to a new toll way system if the Chinese would provide the funding to build it.
Does it make sense for the Chinese to own some of our most important ports?
Isn't there a national security risk?
Sadly, there isn't much of anything that our politicians won't sell these days as long as someone is willing to flash a lot of cash.
The Chinese have also been busy buying up important real estate on the east coast as a recent Forbes article explained….
According to a recent report in the New York Times, investors from China are "snapping up luxury apartments" and are planning to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on commercial and residential projects like Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn. Chinese companies also have signed major leases at the Empire State Building and at 1 World Trade Center, the report said.
But it is not only just land and infrastructure that the Chinese have been buying up.
They have also been purchasing rights to vital oil and natural gas deposits all over the United States.
There have been two Chinese companies that have been primarily involved in this effort.
The first is the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). According to Wikipedia, CNOOC is 100 percent owned by the Chinese government…
CNOOC Group is a state-owned oil company, fully owned by the Government of the People's Republic of China, and the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) performs the rights and obligations of shareholder on behalf of the government.
The second is Sinopec Corporation. Sinopec Group is the largest shareholder (approx. 75% ownership) in Sinopec Corporation. And as the Sinopec website tells us, Sinopec Group is fully owned by the Chinese government…
Sinopec Group, the largest shareholder of Sinopec Corp., is a super-large petroleum and petrochemical group incorporated by the State in 1998 based on the former China Petrochemical Corporation. Funded by the State, it is a State authorized investment arm and State-owned controlling company.
So whenever you see CNOOC or Sinopec, you can replace those names with the Chinese government. The Chinese government essentially runs both of those companies.
And as you can see from the following list compiled by the Wall Street Journal, those two companies have been extremely aggressive in buying up rights to oil and natural gas all over the nation…
So why is the U.S. government allowing this?
That is a very good question.
For a nation that purports to be pursuing "energy independence", we sure do have a funny way of going about things.
Unfortunately, the sad truth is that China is absolutely mopping the floor with the United States on the global economic stage. China is rising and America is in an advanced state of decline. Global economic power has shifted dramatically and most Americans still don't understand what has happened.
The following are 44 more signs of how dominant the economy of China has become…
1. A Chinese firm recently made a $2.6 billion offer to buy movie theater chain AMC.
2. A different Chinese firm made a $1.8 billion offer to buy aircraft maker Hawker Beechcraft.
3. In December it was announced that a Chinese group would be purchasing AIG's plane leasing unit for $4.23 billion.
4. It was recently announced that the Federal Reserve will now allow Chinese banks to buy up American banks.
5. A $190 million bridge project up in Alaska was awarded to a Chinese firm.
6. A $400 million contract to renovate the Alexander Hamilton bridge in New York was awarded to a Chinese firm.
7. A $7.2 billion contract to construct a new bridge between San Francisco and Oakland was awarded to a Chinese firm.
8. The uniforms for the U.S. Olympic team were made in China.
9. 85 percent of all artificial Christmas trees are made in China.
10. The new World Trade Center tower is going to include glass that has been imported from China.
11. The new Martin Luther King memorial on the National Mall was made in China.
12. In 2001, American consumers spent 102 billion dollars on products made in China. In 2011, American consumers spent 399 billion dollars on products made in China.
13. The United States spends about 4 dollars on goods and services from China for every one dollar that China spends on goods and services from the United States.
14. According to the New York Times, a Jeep Grand Cherokee that costs $27,490 in the United States costs about $85,000 in China thanks to all the tariffs.
15. The Chinese economy has grown 7 times faster than the U.S. economy has over the past decade.
16. The United States has lost a staggering 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.
17. The United States has lost an average of 50,000 manufacturing jobs per month since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.
18. Overall, the United States has lost a total of more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities since 2001.
19. According to the Economic Policy Institute, America is losing half a million jobs to China every single year.
20. Between December 2000 and December 2010, 38 percent of the manufacturing jobs in Ohio were lost, 42 percent of the manufacturing jobs in North Carolina were lost and 48 percent of the manufacturing jobs in Michigan were lost.
21. In 2010, China produced more than twice as many automobiles as the United States did.
22. Since the auto industry bailout, approximately 70 percent of all GM vehicles have been built outside the United States.
23. After being bailed out by U.S. taxpayers, General Motors is currently involved in 11 joint ventures with companies owned by the Chinese government. The price for entering into many of these "joint ventures" was a transfer of "state of the art technology" from General Motors to the communist Chinese.
24. Back in 1998, the United States had 25 percent of the world's high-tech export market and China had just 10 percent. Ten years later, the United States had less than 15 percent and China's share had soared to 20 percent.
25. The United States has lost more than a quarter of all of its high-tech manufacturing jobs over the past ten years.
26. China's number one export to the U.S. is computer equipment.
27. The number one U.S. export to China is "scrap and trash".
28. The U.S. trade deficit with China is now more than 28 times larger than it was back in 1990.
29. Back in 1985, the U.S. trade deficit with China was just 6 million dollars for the entire year. For the month of November 2012 alone, the U.S. trade deficit with China was 28.9 billion dollars.
30. China now consumes more energy than the United States does.
31. China is now the leading manufacturer of goods in the entire world.
32. China uses more cement than the rest of the world combined.
33. China is now the number one producer of wind and solar power on the entire globe.
34. Today, China produces nearly twice as much beer as the United States does.
35. Right now, China is producing more than three times as much coal as the United States does.
36. China now produces 11 times as much steel as the United States does.
37. China produces more than 90 percent of the global supply of rare earth elements.
38. China is now the number one supplier of components that are critical to the operation of U.S. defense systems.
39. A recent investigation by the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services found more than one million counterfeit Chinese parts in the Department of Defense supply chain.
40. 15 years ago, China was 14th in the world in published scientific research articles. But now, China is expected to pass the United States and become number one very shortly.
41. China now awards more doctoral degrees in engineering each year than the United States does.
42. According to one study, the Chinese economy already has roughly the same amount of purchasing power as the U.S. economy does.
43. According to the IMF, China will pass the United States and will become the largest economy in the world in 2016.
44. Nobel economist Robert W. Fogel of the University of Chicago is projecting that the Chinese economy will be three times larger than the U.S. economy by the year 2040 if current trends continue.
Without the "globalization" of the world economy, none of this would have ever happened. But instead of admitting our mistakes and fixing them, our politicians continue to press for even more "free trade" and even more integration with communist nations such as China.
In fact, according to Dr. Jerome Corsi, the U.S. government has already set up 257 "foreign trade zones" all over America. These "foreign trade zones" are apparently given "special U.S. customs treatment" and are used to promote "free trade"…
Corsi noted that the U.S. government has created 257 foreign trade zones, or FTZs, throughout the United States, designed to extend special U.S. customs treatment to U.S. plants engaged in international-trade-related activities.
The FTZs tend to be located near airports, with easy access into the continental NAFTA and WTO multi-modal transportation systems being created to move free-trade goods cheaply, quickly and efficiently throughout the continent of North America.
"There is nothing in the U.S. government's description of FTZs that would prevent a foreign government, like China, from operating a shell U.S. company that is in reality owned and financed by the Chinese government and operated through a Chinese government-owned corporation," Corsi wrote.
Sadly, we are probably going to see a whole lot more of this in the years ahead.
According to Corsi, a professor of economics at Tsighua University in Beijing named Yu Qiao has suggested the following plan as a way to transform the debt that the United States owes China into something more "tangible"…
China would negotiate with the U.S. government to create a "crisis relief facility," or CRF. The CRF "would be used alongside U.S. federal efforts to stabilize the banking system and to invest in capital-intensive infrastructure projects such as high-speed railroad from Boston to Washington, D.C.
China would pool a portion of its holdings of Treasury bonds under the CFR umbrella to convert sovereign debt into equity. Any CFR funds that were designated for investment in U.S. corporations would still be owned and managed by U.S. equity holders, with the Asians holding minority equity shares "that would, like preferred stock, be convertible."
The U.S. government would act as a guarantor, "providing a sovereign guarantee scheme to assure the investment principal of the CRF against possible default of targeted companies or projects".
The Federal Reserve would set up a special account to supply the liquidity the CRF would require to swap sovereign debt into industrial investment in the United States.
Apparently the Bank of China really likes this plan and would like to see something like this implemented.
In the years ahead, perhaps many of you will end up working in a "special economic zone" for a Chinese company on a project that is being financially guaranteed by the U.S. government.
If that sounds like a form of slavery to you, the truth is that you are probably not too far off the mark.
The borrower is the servant of the lender, and we should have never allowed ourselves to get into so much debt.
Now we will pay the price.
To get an idea of how much the world has changed in recent years, just check out this incredible photo which contrasts the decline of Detroit over the years with the amazing rise of Shanghai, China.
Things did not have to turn out this way. Unfortunately, we made decades of incredibly foolish decisions and we wrecked the greatest economic machine that the world has ever seen.
Now the future for America looks really bleak.
Or could it be that I am being too pessimistic? Please feel free to post a comment with your thoughts below…
Categories TradeTags America, Businesses, China, Chinese, Chinese Central Bank, Debt, Economic Colonization, Equity, Farmland, From Debt, Homes, Infrastructure, Loss, Natural Resources, Owes, Real Estate, U.S. Businesses, World150 Comments
Sorry Protesters: Your Jobs Are Being Sent To China And They Aren't Coming Back
December 11, 2012 by Michael Snyder
Did you see the huge crowds of protesters that flooded the Michigan Capitol on Tuesday? They were there to protest two bills there were being considered by the state legislature that would limit the power of unions in the state. Michigan lawmakers approved the bills and this absolutely infuriated the protesters. There is a lot of passion on both sides of this debate, but I am afraid that both sides in this debate are missing the bigger picture. If we keep shipping millions of our jobs to China, there isn't going to be work for anyone no matter how much power unions have or don't have. During the month of October, the U.S. trade deficit increased to 42.2 billion dollars. Our trade with China accounted for most of that deficit. Our trade deficit with China in October increased to a new all-time one month record of 29.5 billion dollars. Nearly 30 billion dollars that could have gone to U.S. businesses and U.S. workers went to China instead. Since 1975, a total of about 8 trillion dollars that could have gone to U.S. businesses and U.S. workers went to the rest of the world instead. Shiny new factories are going up all over China, and meanwhile our once great manufacturing cities are degenerating into desolate wastelands. So what is going to happen when all of the good paying manufacturing jobs are gone? Are we all going to fight bitterly over whether we should unionize the low paying jobs that remain at places such as Wal-Mart and McDonalds? Such an approach is not going to bring back prosperity to America. We desperately need to start building things and start creating real wealth inside this country once again. We desperately need to stop sending tens of thousands of businesses, millions of jobs and trillions of dollars of our national wealth out of the country. Unfortunately, I don't see anyone out there holding protests about our trade deficit. Nobody really seems to care, so our economy will continue to bleed good jobs and the middle class will continue to be destroyed.
The funny thing is that the workers that are out there protesting these union bills actually voted for the politicians that are killing their jobs. Both parties are married to the one world economic system and the "free trade" agenda, and Barack Obama has been one of the worst offenders. He has been pushing for more "free trade agreements" throughout the past four years, and yet union workers continue to support him enthusiastically.
How foolish can they possibly be?
Yeah, let's merge American workers into a global labor pool with workers in third world countries on the other side of the globe that work in absolutely nightmarish conditions for as little as 45 dollars a month. That sounds like a great idea, doesn't it?
Oh, but you don't want to work for 45 dollars a month?
You don't even want to work for 450 dollars a month?
Well, then the big corporations that fund politicians like Obama will just take your jobs and send them halfway around the planet.
Do you think that your unions will save your jobs?
Michigan already has the highest rate of union membership in the Midwest.
It also has the highest rate of unemployment in the Midwest.
Over the past couple of decades, thousands of businesses in Michigan have either closed down or moved facilities overseas.
Did the unions prevent any of that?
If union bosses really wanted to do some good, they would be organizing protests against our incredibly foolish trade policies.
But instead, they tell their members to vote for politicians like Obama and then they run out to the stores and fill their carts with huge piles of products that were made in China.
Union workers need to wake up to one fundamental economic fact – in a one world economic system, the big corporations simply do not need you. They can make their products in lots of other countries where it is legal to pay slave labor wages.
But instead of getting upset about what is really killing their jobs, union workers in Michigan are screaming mad about a couple of new laws that will take some power away from the unions.
That is kind of like being obsessed with a broken fingernail when your leg has just been sawed off and you are gushing blood all over the floor.
Oh, but union workers did put on a good show up in Michigan. The following is how a Bloomberg article described the protests…
Officials spent days gearing up for crowds brought out by the legislature's sudden action last week to give initial approval to three anti-dues bills, which exclude police and firefighters. At least one helicopter buzzed overhead today, and mounted police surveyed the protesters. Signs reading "Don't hurt working families" dotted lawns.
The crowd numbered more than 10,000, according to State Police Inspector Gene Adamczyk, with more buses still arriving. The Capitol was closed when it reached its capacity of 2,000.
The anger surrounding these protests was almost palpable. One state representative even declared that "there will be blood".
Meanwhile, many of those same protesters will buy toys for their kids that were made in China with wrapping paper that was made in China and they will put them under a Christmas tree that was made in China.
Merging our economy with the economy of communist China was one of the stupidest economic moves that we could have ever made. They are systematically taking our wealth, and then we have to go over there and beg them to lend money back to us.
Pretty soon the Chinese economy will dwarf ours. According to the National Intelligence Council, the GDP of Asia will have surpassed the GDP of North America and the GDP of all of Europe combined by 2030.
But if we had never opened up trade with communist China none of this would have ever happened.
Why won't American workers get upset about this stuff?
Do you really want your standard of living to decline to the level of a Chinese factory worker?
You can see some photos of what life is like for workers in China's toy factories right here. This is what the future holds for American workers unless something is done.
For much more on how our trade policies are absolutely gutting our economy, please see the statistics in this article: "55 Reasons Why You Should Buy Products That Are Made In America This Holiday Season".
But no, the big unions will never dare oppose Obama. They love him far too much to do that.
Meanwhile, we continue to bleed good jobs. Large companies have announced the elimination of more than 100,000 jobs since November 6th, and it looks like 2013 is going to be a very difficult year for American workers.
If you are an American worker, you need to ask yourself why anyone would want to hire you in this kind of economic environment. You are 10 to 20 times more expensive than workers on the other side of the globe. In addition, our politicians just keep piling more rules, regulations and taxes on to the backs of the employers in this country. It is more difficult than ever to make a profit from the labor of an American worker.
Honestly, I understand why most small businesses don't want to hire anyone in this economic environment. It just doesn't make sense. For much more on this, please see this excellent article by Charles Hugh-Smith.
And there are signs that things are going to get even worse. For example, the NFIB Small Business Outlook survey dropped like a rock during November. That is a very bad sign for hiring.
And another ominous sign for the economy was that the latest trade report showed that imports and exports are both declining. That is usually a signal that a recession is coming. Exports fell faster than imports did, and that is the reason why the trade deficit grew. If imports and exports both fall again next month, it will be time to become extremely concerned. When imports and exports both decline, that is a sign of slowing economic activity.
The United States will always need to trade with other nations, but we need to do it in a way that is balanced and that protects American workers. Right now there is a one way conveyor belt taking businesses, jobs and money out of this country. If we don't do something about our mammoth trade deficit, we will have no chance of reversing the steady decline of the U.S. economy.
Hopefully we can get the American people to wake up and realize this. Instead, most of the comments at the end of this article will probably be about the pros and cons of unions. That will be yet another sign that most people still don't get these issues.
Categories UnemploymentTags China, Factories, Good Jobs, Jobs, Manufacturing, Michigan, National Wealth, Our Economy, Prosperity, Protesters, Real Wealth, The Middle Class, Trade Deficit, U.S. Businesses, U.S. Trade Deficit, U.S. Workers, Unionize, Unions, Wealth134 Comments
22 Stats That Show How The Emerging One World Economy Is Absolutely Killing American Workers
For decades our politicians have promised us that the "free trade" agenda would bring us greater prosperity than ever before. They insisted that merging our economy into the emerging one world economy would cause millions upon millions of new jobs to be added to the U.S. economy. Unfortunately, it was all a giant lie. Trading with other countries is not a bad thing as long as the level of trade is fairly equal on both sides. When trade becomes very unequal, the consequences can be absolutely catastrophic. Since 1975, the United States has bought more than 8 trillion dollars more stuff from the rest of the world than they have bought from us. We are the only economy on earth that could have had 8 trillion dollars drained out of it and still be standing. Instead of leaving the country, those 8 trillion dollars could have gone to U.S. businesses and U.S. workers. If we could go back and have a "do over", how much more prosperous would we be today if we had kept that 8 trillion dollars inside the country?
But instead of pursuing a balanced trade philosophy, our politicians were so enamored with the emerging one world economy that they threw all caution to the wind.
So we have lost tens of thousands of businesses, millions of jobs and trillions of dollars of our national wealth.
And this emerging one world economy is absolutely killing American workers. It lumps them into a global labor pool with workers in other countries where it is legal to pay slave labor wages.
Just think of it this way. Imagine that you are a giant corporation that makes "widgets". You can make them in the United States, but you would have to pay your workers about $10 an hour, provide them with a whole bunch of benefits, pay very high taxes, and comply with a dizzying array of laws, rules and regulations.
Or, you could set up shop on the other side of the world where you could pay your workers a dollar an hour. Those workers would receive no benefits and you would have to deal with very little red tape.
Which would you choose?
The "giant sucking sound" that Ross Perot once warned us about has become a reality. Big employers are competing with one another to see who can outsource jobs the fastest, and American workers are the big losers in all of this.
As I wrote about the other day, right now there are some American workers that are actually personally training their replacements from overseas how to do their jobs.
If nothing is done about this, jobs are going to continue to pour out of high wage countries such as the United States and into low wage countries on the other side of the globe, and big corporations are going to keep laughing all the way to the bank as unemployment in America gets even worse.
The following are 22 stats that show how the emerging one world economy is absolutely killing American workers….
#1 One professor has estimated that cutting the U.S. trade deficit in half would create 5 million more jobs in the United States.
#2 The United States has a trade imbalance that is more than 7 times larger than any other nation on earth has.
#3 Overall, the United States has run a trade deficit of more than 8 trillion dollars with the rest of the globe since 1975. That 8 trillion dollars could have gone to support U.S. businesses and pay the wages of U.S. workers. Federal, state and local taxes would have been paid on that 8 trillion dollars if it had stayed in the United States. This is one reason why our national debt is getting ready to cross the 16 trillion dollar mark.
#4 When NAFTA was passed in 1993, the United States had a trade surplus with Mexico of 1.6 billion dollars. In 2010, we had a trade deficit with Mexico of 61.6 billion dollars.
#5 In 2001, American consumers spent 102 billion dollars on products made in China. In 2011, American consumers spent 399 billion dollars on products made in China.
#6 The Chinese undervalue their currency by about 40 percent in order to gain a critical advantage over foreign competitors. This means that many Chinese companies are able to absolutely thrive while their competition in the United States goes out of business. The following is from a recent Fox News article….
To keep Chinese products artificially inexpensive on US store shelves, Beijing undervalues the yuan by 40 percent. It pirates US technology, subsidizes exports and imposes high tariffs on imports.
#7 According to the New York Times, a Jeep Grand Cherokee that costs $27,490 in the United States costs about $85,000 in China thanks to all the tariffs.
#8 The U.S. trade deficit with China during 2011 was 295.4 billion dollars. That was the largest trade deficit that one nation has had with another nation in the history of the world.
#9 Back in 1985, our trade deficit with China was only about 6 million dollars (million with an "m") for the entire year.
#10 U.S. consumers spend about 4 dollars on goods and services from China for every one dollar that Chinese consumers spend on goods and services from the United States.
#11 The United States has actually lost an average of about 50,000 manufacturing jobs a month since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.
#12 According to the Economic Policy Institute, America is losing about half a million jobs to China every single year.
#13 The United States has lost more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities since 2001.
#14 During 2010 alone, an average of 23 manufacturing facilities closed their doors in America every single day.
#16 As I have written about previously, 95 percent of the jobs lost during the last recession were middle class jobs.
#17 According to Professor Alan Blinder of Princeton University, 40 million more U.S. jobs could be sent offshore over the next two decades if current trends continue.
#18 The percentage of working age Americans that are employed right now is actually smaller than it was at the end of the last recession.
#19 The average duration of unemployment in the United States is nearly three times as long as it was back in the year 2000.
#20 Due in part to the globalization of the labor pool, only about 24 percent of all jobs in the United States are "good jobs" at this point.
#21 Without enough good jobs, more Americans than ever before are falling into poverty. Today, more than 100 million Americans are on welfare.
#22 In recent years the U.S. economy has embraced "free trade" and the emerging one world economy like never before. Instead of increasing the number of jobs in our economy, it has resulted in the worst stretch of job creation in the United States in modern history….
If any single number captures the state of the American economy over the last decade, it is zero. That was the net gain in jobs between 1999 and 2009—nada, nil, zip. By painful contrast, from the 1940s through the 1990s, recessions came and went, but no decade ended without at least a 20 percent increase in the number of jobs.
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.
You can get a really good idea of how nightmarish the manufacturing job losses have been in the United States over the past 40 years by checking out this map right here.
And if everything posted above was not bad enough, some U.S. companies even find themselves competing with slave labor here in the United States.
Prison labor is absolutely destroying some businesses here in America. The following comes from a recent CNN article….
Unicor is a government-run enterprise that employs over 13,000 inmates — at wages as low as 23 cents an hour — to make goods for the Pentagon and other federal agencies.
With some exceptions, Unicor gets first dibs on federal contracts over private companies as long as its bid is comparable in price, quantity and delivery. In other words: If Unicor wants a contract, it gets it.
One company that tries to compete with Unicor has been forced to lay off 150 people over the years because they lose so many contracts to them….
Wilson has been competing with Unicor for 20 years. He's an executive at American Apparel Inc., an Alabama company that makes military uniforms. (It is not affiliated with the international retailer of the same name.) He has gone head-to-head with Unicor on just about every product his company makes — and said he has laid off 150 people over the years as a result.
"We pay employees $9 on average," Wilson said. "They get full medical insurance, 401(k) plans and paid vacation. Yet we're competing against a federal program that doesn't pay any of that."
But this is also the kind of thing that U.S. companies are dealing with when they try to compete with big corporations that are exploiting cheap labor abroad.
If you are spending ten times as much on labor as your competitor is, it is going to be really hard to survive.
That is why it has become so hard to find products that are made in America.
Most of our jobs these days are low paying "service jobs", cushy government jobs or jobs where people push papers around all day.
But those kinds of jobs do not create lasting wealth for a country.
Did you know that there are more tax preparers in the United States than there are police officers and firefighters combined?
Our economy is a giant mirage. We consume way more wealth than we produce, but we are able to keep the party going because we are riding the biggest debt spiral the world has ever seen.
But at some point the debt spiral is going to end and the crash is going to come.
Until then, however, those at the very top are still really enjoying themselves.
For example, one of the latest trends is for rich kids to show off pictures of themselves enjoying their enormous wealth on Instagram.
Something has gone very, very wrong with this country.
So what do you think about all this? Please feel free to post a comment with your thoughts below….
Categories TradeTags American Workers, Businesses, Catastrophic, Economy, Free Trade, Jobs, One World, One World Economy, Prosperity, Prosperous, Trading, U.S. Businesses192 Comments


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Adam Sandoval, another longtime supporter of WWP who holds a world record for motorcycle riding (http://newsroom.woundedwarriorproject.org/making-an-impact-A-Motorcycle-Enthusiast-His-Chihuahua-and-18-Months-on-The-Road), also participated in the event. He also recently wrapped up another cross-country motorcycle adventure, where he gave away eight new motorcycles to deserving veterans (http://adamsandovalrides.com/mission-thank-you).
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It's always fun to compile a list of the ten fastest cars in the world. The typical reason for this is speed; speed is the most exciting and coolest force that a moving object can produce. The automobile industry is taking the definition of speed into a new zone. Moreover, you can see an example of this in Mercedes-AMG Project One, which brings a six-cylinder compact engine which is beyond our belief with hybrid power systems and electric motors.
In this article, we have mentioned the top list of high-speed cars in the world. Please read this article and know the best and choose the best from it. I hope you enjoy the list. All the best!
From Italy, the Pagani Huayra also set records for its high speed. This 26 years old company has gained popularity very quickly by introducing its super fast and amazing cars. The car features a lightweight, robust and expensive material with carbon fiber which made it one of the go-to composites for six-and even seven-figure vehicles. Pagani Huayra was first introduced in 2011. The company owner Argentinian Horacio Pagani managed to composite Lamborghini materials. It features a 6 liter, a twin turbo, V-12 engine which is borrowed from Mercedes-Benz. This supercar can give a speed up to 230 miles per hour (370.1 kilometers per hour).
The new Zenvo ST1 is in the same league as the Koenigsegg CCXR and the Bugatti Veyron. This super fast car has a horsepower of 1104 and transmission of 7-speed F1 paddle shift. It features a 7.0-liter V8 engine. The configuration of the car is straightforward and has room for two. They are turbocharged and supercharge. The top speed of the car is 233 miles per hour (375 kilometers per hour).
When the McLaren F1 came on the market, the recorded top speed was marked as 231 miles per hour (MPH) (371.8 kilometers per hour). However, after some time, they pushed the upper limit of the car to 240 miles per hour (386.2 kilometers per hour). The car is powered by a BMW-sourced, 6.1-liter V12 engine. This super fast car tools the eyes of the customers by its unique cockpit layout.
An ultra-rare American-built supercar Saleen S7 Twin-Turbo is breaking the internet with its speed of 248 miles per hour (MPH) (399.1 kilometers per hour). The car features a 7.0 liter Ford Windsor V8 with 750 horsepower.
This was difficult to figure out because Koenigsegg, the Swedish automaker made two cars with similar names and similar specifications, the CCX and the CCR. In 2005, the CCR managed to take a seat on the Guinness record for the world's fastest production car. The car features four valves per cylinder, V8 cast aluminum engine, and reached a speed of 250 miles per hour (MPH) (402.3 kilometers per hour).
The German Porsche tuner 9ff's new collection of GT9-R is limited to 20 cars. They have reconfigured the old Porsche 911 with a six-cylinder boxer, 4-liter engine. The car has 1,120 horsepower in the four-figure range. The car can run with a speed of 257 miles per hour (MPH) (413.6 kilometers per hour).
The Ultimate Aero from SSC that holds the record of speed for sometimes is a super fast car from Washington-based SSC North America. They are formerly famous with the name of Shelby SuperCars. The vehicle of the car features electronic driving aids such as anti-lock brakes and traction control. While concentrating on improving the electronic parts, they also managed to give the car speed of 257 miles per hour (MPH) (413.6 kilometers per hour).
Oh yes! How can Swedes not make into the list? This time they have come up with the Koenigsegg Agera S. They have this one as a formidable competitor. According to the manufacturer, the can run with a top speed of 273 miles per hour (439.4 kilometers per hour), but an individual can go best with 260 miles per hour (418.4 kilometers per hour). The car features a twin-turbo V-8 engine which consumes less power as compared to others and a 5-liter engine.
Some of the Bugatti Veyron broke the record in 2005 for their super fast speed. The car is eligible to achieve a speed of 268 miles per hour (431.3 kilometers per hour). The car features an 8.0-liter quad-turbocharged W-16 engine which weighs less than 40 pounds, which makes the car even faster. Amazing Aha!
Hennessey is an automaker from Sealy, Texas. The company uses components of other manufacturers to build their super-fast Hennessey Venom GT. This hand-built super fast car has a Corvette Z06 engine; a stretched Lotus Exige body and an engine that is boosted by two turbochargers. The Venom GT can run with a speed of 270 miles per hour (434.5 kilometers per hour). That's exciting, right?
Here, in this article, we have listed out the top 10 fastest cars in the world. I hope you enjoyed the description mentioned above. I wish I hadn't missed out any product to say here. Do share your views on this compiled list of top 10 fastest cars in the world. As we are near 2020, we must see changes in the upcoming speed cars. So, stay tuned with the new propulsion systems, power systems, and energy management.


This new edition of EC Employment Law provides a complete revision and update of the leading English language text in the field. The coverage in the new edition has been expanded with material on all the latest developments, including the new Equality Directives, the development of the European Employment Strategy, the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) as well as more traditional regulatory techniques. It also analyses the ever expanding body of employment case law.
The book begins with an examination of the development of EC employment law focusing on the shift from employment law to employment policy. The text then considers rule-making in the field of employment law considering both the traditional routes to legislation and the new governance techniques, including the OMC. The book considers the substantive area of employment law, considering the free movement of persons, equal treatment, health and safety and working conditions, the restructuring of enterprises, worker participations and collective action. Throughout, the book addresses the fundamental question as to the purpose of EC employment law: is it primarily economic, social or both?


Does this really play divx/avi without aditional players? only gsmarena's specification says that and not any nokia official website.
Anonymous, 20 Jun 2010What u should have done was check were this started from. Lets compare BLUETOOTH Rep- N8 ... moreMy my, what dumb arguments you make.
Bluetooth 3.0 is compatible with 2.0. This means N8 will communicate with Bluetooth 2.0 enabled device just as well as any phone while also able to transfer files at high speed with Bluetooth 3.0 enabled device.
The reason why Iphone does not come with Bluetooth 3.0, and might not in the foreseeable future is because the Bluetooth hardware aside, the only Bluetooth profile that Apple enables for its phones is the A2DP for Blutooth audio. You do not need Bluetooth 3.0 for just audio streaming.
There two view to the MEMORY question. Either "it comes with 16GB and I'm happy with it" or "it comes with only 16GG and I'm stuck with it". Which one are you?
The reason you make such a naive argument about the significance of Bluetooth file transfer that the Iphones lack is because you are too steeped in iSheep methodology; Itunes for everything. There is a world out there where one can transfer anything from a picture you take on your camera, sound you record on your phone, videos, documents, notes, contacts .... everything from one Bluetooth enabled phone to another without the need for a PC. Try it, you'll love it.
If making video calls over 3G is pathetic then making video calls over wifi from one Iphone 4 to only another Iphone 4 is stupid. 3G video calls are not perfect but it did not stop me from calling my mom when I was in an rural area during work when there was no wifi or when I was not sure what chair my sister wanted and had to call and show her directly before buying it or when I had to call my friend to check with him if the table center piece for his wedding was ok on his wedding day. Get the point?
FM receiver and transmitter arguments you made were your most stupidest me thinks. A lot of people (and I mean a lot world wide) use FM radio to listen to their local stations and just because you could only pick up a few stations does not make it unusable. I can pick up all my local stations. You think buying a dock and having it powered separately is better than having a built in FM transmitter. This sort of sums up all your arguments I suppose. Only an Isheep will think everything on its Apple device is perfect and will be willing to pay extra to make up for its deficiencies.
If my assessment is correct, as an Isheep what ever I tried to point out above would fall into the Memory Hole that Big Brother jobs created for you sheeps and most likely you'll come back with more nonsensical drivel on why "Both phones are the same".
Anonymous, 21 Jun 2010Lets compare BLUETOOTH Rep- N8 I know Iphone will definitely get it when this happen (def... moreThanks.
Lets compare was started by iphone 4 and he obviously did not get his facts right.
Anyways, one of the post was mine and I am happy to see that it is being continued.
I know Iphone will definitely get it when this happen (definitely with a price tag). Again, the point is Iphone is late in this area. And maybe not Iphone 4.
Maybe they will promote it as some new techno that they invented.
Do you bring your PC along to everywhere?
I am talking about outdoor. How do u transfer a 1mb or 2mb file using Iphone without a PC or laptop?
Again my question, do google maps navigation provide "voice guidance" for drivers? OVI map does. I as a driver do not expect to look at the screen all the time while driving. Nokia OVI map help me a lot in this area. Iphone no.
My Answer is: Lets only discuss about this after we get the real thing of both on our hand or wait till GSM Arena review on this area.
I don't know where u stay. Working at overseas, this is a very important features for me to connect with my family members.
The 3G Video Calls at our area is quite ok.
The point is, Iphone 4 can never do 3G call.
My Answer: I don't know what happened to your N97. Maybe u should bring it to the shop or something. It should be able to tune into all the radio stations.
Do u know what u are talking about the Iphone dock?
The point is U need a "dock", It is machine dependant.
Are u going to install a dock at your house, car, office...etc? For Nokia N8, all i need is a radio or device that have FM radio function and good speaker.
Obvious who is the winner.
People often wonder how these devices get their audio stamina in battery life,,its because they use seperate audio chips which run independantly of the main proccessor..
Person below,,i have a go at everyone who puts ,,"wat is price",,??? I will just put my telepathic hat on shall i?? You people dont think and i will tell you why,,you dont put your currency/country/ do you want it sim free/contract/pay as you go..Even if the products out you must have shops near you to enquire and you also have a comp in front of you ,,find out..Arrrrggghh it just gets on my nerves..
krag, 20 Jun 2010we need this phone to be realeased. it looks very innovative and interesting. i would also lik... moreI say about 7-8 weeks going by latest info,,i think they still tweaking cam and sure they have finalised the coding in symbian.. ,,i hope the new AMOLED screen they are using is pretty good in outdoors and unlike n86 screen..
Anonymous, 21 Jun 2010Liquidity comes first. You can get 2/3 of original price of iphone if you wanna sell after 18m... moreI miss most impotant thing. Iphone has snappy 1GHz processor and higher RAM. You get what you pay for.
[deleted post]Liquidity comes first. You can get 2/3 of original price of iphone if you wanna sell after 18months. I got 200 pounds for iphone 2G when i sold last week. Try selling Nokia to get half of original price after a year.
User experience: No lag, No fussy confirmation like Nokia on Iphone. Fantastic music player and sound quality of iphone as tested by audio engineers.
Camera quality: When 5800 came out it claims VGA for video like iphone 3Gs but iphone performs a lot better. You can touch anything on screen to focus.
Built quality: Nice look of iphone is still unbeaten as no one invest on manufacturing cost like apple.
Screen quality: Retina display is one of the best here.
Apps: games, tomtom, books, radio, tv stations, there are something for everyone.
Multitasking: Nokia phones has been able to multitask since 2 yrs ago. But u have to close apps b4 you run new one if 3 or 4 apps run in background. Apple has user friendly UI by smart multitasking.
To be fair, Nokia xenon flash is useful but how many times you will use it? Megapixel is useless unless you wanna print poster. Camera lens is more important. HDMI out on N8 is useful but again it is not used everyday.
N8, 20 Jun 2010You are wrong mate,the N8 and the iphone are both good phones just that the iphone is steeply ... moreNever said they are not good phones. the long and short of what am saying is both phones will have strengths and weaknesses. This whole argument started from some one claiming the N8 had better hardware, to which I replied that the only thing better was the camera.
GVS, 20 Jun 2010indians go for n8.look at apple's concept of launching iphones in india. us=iphone --> ... moreI will never buy an APPLE product again.
I will buy this device too. I will use it to stream movies (Wifi n) from my TerraServer network to my HDMI 65in screen. I even have a bluetooth mouse from my laptop. I will be able to check the movies on my server database right from my sitting room :) I guess the 21 century has arrived . . .
indians go for n8.look at apple's concept of launching iphones in india.
Anonymous, 20 Jun 2010What u should have done was check were this started from. Lets compare BLUETOOTH Rep- N8 ... moreYou are wrong mate,the N8 and the iphone are both good phones just that the iphone is steeply overpriced.


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Home on Cameron and their neighbors celebrated the home design store's one-year anniversary April 26 with an open house block party.
Interior designers Todd Martz and Susan Nelson recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of their design store, Home on Cameron, in Old Town Alexandria with their neighbors during an open house block party.
Friends stopped by Thursday, April 26 to visit at Home on Cameron at 315 Cameron St. The store features upholstered furniture including private label sofas and chairs, antiques, custom dining pieces, lamps, chandeliers and accessories.
Guests enjoyed live music and light fare from Hank's Pasta Bar and Territory Foods.
Other businesses including A Galerie Antiques Fine Art, Helen Olivia Flowers, Donna Lewis, Fit One Personal Training Studio, Gossypia and The Hive on Cameron Street also welcomed visitors during the evening's block party. See a photo gallery here from the event. Photos courtesy of Home on Cameron.


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September 2018 Issue of Wines & Vines
Top 10 U.S. Wine Distributors
A shortlist of the top 10 wine distributors and their executives, ranked by importance to U.S. wineries
This is Wines & Vines' second year publishing the top 10 U.S. wine distributors as ranked by the data and research group Wines Vines Analytics. The list is developed with unique criteria chosen to emphasize the interests of wineries, such as how many and which U.S. wineries a distributor represents and the percentage of population in the states they cover. While the top five distributors are consistent with last year, because of mergers and acquisitions, each has seen its business expand by increasing the number of states served and overall wineries represented. One major change, a proposed merger of No. 2 Republic National Distributor Co., and No. 3 Breakthru Beverage Group, has yet to be approved by federal regulators. The distribution of beer and spirits was not taken into account in creating this list.
1. Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits
Headquarters: Miami, Fla.
States served: 45
Offices: 123
U.S. wineries represented: 1,141
Chairman: Harvey Chaplin
Executive vice chairman: Bennett Glazer
CEO: Wayne Chaplin
President: Sheldon Stein
Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits (SGWS) hits the No. 1 spot for the largest wine distributor in the United States once again. It serves 45 states and 1,141 wineries, according to the Wines Vines Analytics. The firm generated revenue estimated by Forbes magazine at $16.5 billion in 2017, placing it at No. 17 on the magazine's Top 25 Companies list for that year.
SGWS was formed through a January 2016 agreement to merge Southern Wine & Spirits, which became the largest U.S. distributor as of 1992, and Glazer's, which had gross revenue of about a third of Southern's. The two had acquired several other distributors since 2010 including Premier, Stoller, Odom, Olinger, Alliance, Sterling and Union. In January 2018, SGWS acquired Jarboe Sales in Oklahoma; the deal is scheduled to officially close in October 2018.
As of May 2018, Southern increased total distribution by expanding Santa Rosa, Calif., based Jackson Family Wines' distribution into Florida. With this agreement, the family-owned winery is now available in 13 U.S. markets.
According to the company, SGWS employs more than 20,000 people and distributes more than 150 million cases of wine and spirits annually across 45 U.S. states, as well as Canada and the Caribbean.
SGWS also had to recently contend with lawsuits filed by New York authorities. At the end of 2017, the wholesaler was fined $3.5 million by New York's State Liquor Authority (SLA) for engaging in "pay to play" schemes. Additionally, Southern Glazer entered into a corporate compliance agreement with the SLA, agreeing to allow the legal entity to regularly obtain information on practice violations. The agreement also imposes a responsibility for SGWS to report questionable business interactions to the SLA for further investigation.
2. Republic National Distributing Co.
Headquarters: Grand Prairie, Texas
Offices: 46
U.S. wineries represented: 820
President and CEO: Tom Cole
EVP and COO: Robert Hendrickson
CFO: Nicholas Mehall
Republic National Distributing Co. (RNDC), is the nation's second largest wine distributor, representing 820 wineries according to Wines Vines Analytics. The RNDC was formed in May of 2007, the result of a merger between Republic Beverage and National Distributing Company. The combined firm now operates across 22 states, and Washington D.C.
In May 2018, RNDC extended its distribution partnership with Ste. Michelle Wine Estates for an additional five years across nine markets, including Louisiana, Maryland, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia and Washington D.C.
In November 2017, RNDC and Breakthru Beverage Group (BBG) collectively announced their plans to merge pending regulatory approvals. The deal has yet to be approved.
3. Breakthru Beverage Group
Co-chairmen: Charles Merinoff and W. Rockwell Wirtz
President and CEO: Greg Baird
Breakthru Beverage ranks third among the top wine distributors in the United States, selling products from 629 wineries into 16 different states from 37 offices, according to Wines Vines Analytics. Breakthru, in its present form, is the result of a merger between Chermer Sunbelt and Wirtz distribution companies in early 2016, along with 15 other companies they had acquired in previous years.
In July 2018, the company announced a signed agreement to merge its New Jersey wholesale market with Allied Beverage Group. "We have found a great partner in Breakthru and look forward to combining their strong practices with our own. …Our aim is to bring even greater value to our customers and supplier partners," said Allied Beverage Group president and CEO, Jeffrey Altschuler, in a statement.
The integrated company will operate under the name Allied Beverage Group and together will continue to be the state's leading distributor with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion, according to the joint announcement.
4. Young's Market Co.
Headquarters: Tustin, Calif.
Chairman: Vern Underwood
CEO: Chris Underwood
The fourth largest wine distributor, Young's Market Co., is currently serving 693 wineries in 11 states from its headquarters in Orange County, Calif. Young's has absorbed six other distribution companies since 2010, including Columbia in Oregon and Washington.
In May 2018 Wilson Daniels (WD), which is a New York-based subsidiary of Young's Holdings, announced the acquisition of Oregon-based Galaxy Wine Company from founders Matt Elsen and Bob Liner. Once the merger is complete, Galaxy will operate under the wholesale division of importer Wilson Daniels LLC. Galaxy will continue to be led by Elsen and Liner under the direction of Wilson Daniels president Rocco Lombardo.
Galaxy's portfolio numbers more than 400 producers, including wines from A to Z, Vineyard Brands, Dalla Terra, Elk Cove, Maisons Marques & Domaines, Kermit Lynch and Domaine Serene.
Young's, already present in the Oregon distribution market, projects 2018 gross revenues of $200 million in the state. Total revenues across the company's 11-state footprint is expected to reach $3 billion in 2018, according to the company.
5. Johnson Brothers Liquor Company
Headquarters: St. Paul, Minn.
CEO: Michael Johnson
Johnson Brothers Liquor Co. is a family-owned wine, spirits and beer distributor, based in St. Paul, Minn. In 2017, the company expanded its market reach to New York and West Virginia and is currently shipping in 22 states.
In March 2018, the company announced it had signed an agreement to acquire Mutual Distributing of North Carolina, which, according to the announcement, has 700 employees and seven branches throughout the state. The acquisition will include accounts with Constellation, Trinchero, Banfi, Zonin, Foley Family Wines, Terlato and Heineken as well as local breweries.
In addition to distribution, Johnson Brothers provides sales consulting services that include shelf configuration, wine list consulting, staff training, tasting events and helping clients with their product mix. The company is also celebrating its 65th year in business in 2018.
6. Winebow Group
Headquarters: Glen Allen, Va.
President and CEO: Dean Ferrell
Making a big jump from last year's No. 10 position to No. 6 this year is the Winebow Group. In June of 2017, Winebow expanded its distribution network into Rhode Island. Then, in January 2018, the national importer and distributor announced its expansion into Oregon, increasing its total footprint to 22 states. With the addition of Oregon, Winebow now covers the entire West Coast, with Noble Wines in Washington and The Henry Group in California. Winebow is operating a new Portland, Ore., warehouse managed by Toni Ketrenos. Kathy Byrd is the company's vice president and general manager of Noble Wines and Erle Martin is now executive vice president of wholesale west.
Also in January 2018, The Henry Wine Group, partnered with Hahn Family Wines, producer of luxury and super-premium wines from California's Santa Lucia Highlands, Monterey County and Central Coast. As of February 2018, Henry Wine Group has exclusive distribution rights for Hahn, Hahn SLH, Lucienne, Smith & Hook and Boneshaker labels.
7. Empire Distributors
Headquarters: Atlanta, Ga.
States Served: 4
President and CEO: David Kahn
New to the Top 10 Distributor's list is Empire Distributors, headquartered in Atlanta, Ga. The company represents 586 wineries across four states and also distributes spirits, beer and non-alcoholic beverages.
According to Wines Vines Analytics, in June 2018, Empire Distributors acquired Noble Selection (formerly Volio Vino) in Colorado. With that acquisition, the company increased its footprint from three to four states. Empire representatives would not verify or comment on any acquisitions or provide any additional information on the company's background or business practices.
According to Emire's website, the company employs more than 1,500 employees across four states: Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Colorado.
8. Heidelberg Distributing Co.
Headquarters: Dayton, Ohio
Offices: 9
U.S. wineries represented: 85
Co-chairmen: Al Vontz III and Vail Miller Sr.
CEO: Vail Miller Jr.
Down from last year's No. 6 spot to No. 8 this year is Heidelberg Distributing out of Dayton, Ohio. The family-owned company distributes beer, spirits and non-alcoholic beverages in addition to wine.
The company began with German-born immigrant Albert W. Vontz who, in 1907 at age 22, came to the Ohio as a trained brewer and eventually invested in two local taverns. Post-Prohibition, he helped open Cincinnati's Vienna Brewery and later drove a truck for Heidelberg Brewery in Covington, Ky., delivering beer to grocery stores and restaurants in Dayton. Though the brewery closed in 1946, Vontz kept the Heidelberg name and offered his delivery and distribution services to other breweries.
In the 1950s, wine represented a large part of the operation's sales, but it also acquired the Anheuser-Busch franchise in Cincinnati and later the Budweiser distributorship.
Today, Heidelberg, employs 1,600 associates, represents 740 suppliers, including 85 wineries, and serves 26,000 retailers in Ohio and Kentucky.
9. Opici Family Distributing
Headquarters: Glen Rock, N.J.
CEO: Linda Opici
Another new name to the Top 10 Distributor's list is Opici Family Distributing, headquartered in Glen Rock, New Jersey. The fourth-generation, family-owned wine and spirits wholesaler traces its roots back to 1913 when husband and wife Joseph and Esther Opici, Italian immigrants, began importing wines from Italy and distributing them within their home state of New Jersey. In 1934 the couple established the American Beverage Distribution Company of New Jersey - and from that, a family business was born.
During the 1990s, the Opicis expanded their distribution business, purchasing wholesale operations in Connecticut and Florida; by 2013, they had markets in Washington D.C., Maryland and Delaware.
Today Opici Family Distributing serves 250 wineries across seven eastern U.S. states, and Washington D.C.
10. Wine Warehouse
Chairman and CEO: Jim Myerson
Senior vice president: Linda Myerson Dean
President and COO: Greg Akins
Down from its 2017 No. 7 spot, Wine Warehouse, headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif., takes the No. 10 position this year. The company operates only in California, distributing products from 76 wineries within the state, according to Wines Vines Analytics.
The company was founded in 1973, when brothers Bob and Jim Meyerson, avid wine collectors, saw an opportunity to bring fine wines from abroad to the then new and fast-growing U.S. market. By 1978, Wine Warehouse was an established wholesaler of premium wine from around the world, but also represented almost half of the bonded wineries in Napa Valley.
Today, second-generation, owners Jim Myerson and Linda Myerson Dean, son and daughter of Bob Myerson, take the company's leadership positions as CEO and senior vice president, respectively. Wine Warehouse's portfolio includes domestic wines ranging from top-volume producers like E. & J. Gallo Winery to boutique brands like Eberle Winery, Far Niente Winery and Nickel & Nickel.
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Never taken out of the box. 1 "Whistle while you work" and Vol. Jungle Book/ Bowgli & Baloo.
The item "NIB Disney Musical Snowglobe bookends Through the Years Collectable" is in sale since Wednesday, May 2, 2018. This item is in the category "Collectibles\Disneyana\Contemporary (1968-Now)\Snowglobes".
The seller is "heathedelaros-0" and is located in Chino, California. This item can be shipped to United States.


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