TR EMERITUS

By Jonathan Cheng from Wall Street Journal Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, in what was billed as her first public-speaking engagement outside North America, blamed the world financial crisis on government excesses and called for a new round of deregulation and tax cuts for U.S. businesses. "We got into this mess because of government interference in the first place," the former Republican U.S. vice presidential candidate. On the foreign-policy front, she told the room full of bankers and executives of the importance of the global fight against terrorism and of finding ways to engage China as a global power. She said China "rightfully makes a lot of people nervous." Her speech marks an effort to reach out to an international audience and define her political identity since resigning from office earlier this year. Mrs. Palin is among a handful of high-profile Republicans seeking a path back to power for a party that lost control of both houses of Congress and White House in last year's U.S. elections. Mrs. Palin's address was officially closed to the media. The Wall Street Journal reviewed a recording of the speech. In the wide-ranging address, Mrs. Palin touched on the rising U.S. budget deficit, the debate over a proposed health-care overhaul, the war in Afghanistan and China's role in world affairs. She described her political philosophy as a "common-sense conservatism," and said the free-market policies of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher should be guides for how to get out of the current economic situation. "Liberalism holds that there is no human problem that government can't fix if only the right people are put in charge," she said. Mrs. Palin didn't refer to President Barack Obama by name, but said his promise for change during the election hasn't taken hold. She called his campaign promises "nebulous, utopian sounding…Now 10 months later, though, a lot of Americans are asking: more government? Is that the change we want?" In an echo of last year's presidential campaign, she criticized government policies that result in what she called a redistribution of wealth. "There is no justice in taking from one person and giving to another," she said. "History shows it simply does not work." Mrs. Palin blamed the U.S. Federal Reserve's low interest-rate policy of previous years for setting the stage for last year's global financial crisis. She opposed appointing the Fed as the chief overseer of systemic risk in the U.S. financial system. "The words 'fox' and 'henhouse' come to mind. The Fed's decisions have created the bubble," she said. She called for tax cuts as well as the elimination of the capital gains and estate tax. Then, she said, the world will "watch the U.S. economy roar back to life." On health care, Mrs. Palin defended her previous criticisms that the health-care overhaul proposed by Democrats would lead to health-care rationing and what she called "death panels." "It's just common sense that government attempts to solve problems like health care problem will just create new problems." She called for "market friendly" health care reform that gives tax breaks to individuals to buy health insurance. She acknowledged the economic rise of both China and India but called for a vision of Asia in which no one country would dominate. "I see a China that is stable and peaceful and prosperous. We have optimism that, yes, it is," she said. But she added that the U.S. must work with Asian allies in case "China goes in a different direction." She said greater political openness in China could help soothe tensions. "Many believed that with China liberalizing its economy, greater political freedom would follow, but that hasn't happened," she said. "The more open [China] is, the less we'll be concerned about the military buildup and its intentions." On U.S.-China trade relations, Mrs. Palin called for more openness and warned against protectionism. "We need China to improve the rule of law, improve intellectual property protection and avoid protectionism," she said. "For our part, we should be more open to Chinese investments where national security risks aren't a problem." She talked about the recent protests of ethnic minority Muslim Uighurs, Chinese labor conditions, and Tibet. Mrs. Palin mentioned Charter 08, a document signed by prominent academics and dissidents calling for greater democracy and openness in China. In other areas, she criticized Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for speaking skeptically about the need for more troops in Afghanistan. "Afghanistan is where the 9/11 attacks were planned and if we are not successful there, al Qaeda will find a safe haven there again," she said. Mrs. Palin warmed up the crowd with her impressions of Hong Kong, one of the densest urban areas in the world. "The wildlife to human ratio is different from Alaska, but I could get use to it," she said. She also spoke about how Alaska once shared a land bridge with Asia. And she noted that her husband's Eskimo ancestors crossed that bridge. "To consider that connection that allowed sharing of peoples and bloodlines and wildlife and flora and fauna, that connection to me is quite fascinating," she said. - WSJ  Read More →

作者:冀居·谢 早报和新传媒对F1赛事的报道采取截然不同的态度，早报对政府是情义相挺，特别是韩咏梅，好歹也算 是半个车评专家，每年写一次F1赛车，就是为了力挺新加坡夜间赛，觉得十分做作。而新传媒则采取亲民的立场，从赛事对民间的干扰和补益下手，从基层的角度 报道赛事，有别于早报的官方立场。 连续两天看了《星洲日报》郑丁贤对F1的思考文章，觉得说的极有道理。郑丁贤说：『F1不是昂贵的投资，它是超级昂贵的黑洞，永远填不满；而且，永远也不知道是否能够回收。/会计师可以算出一支F1车队亏损数额，但是，再精明的財务专家，也算不出它的投资报酬率（ROI）是多少。』——新加坡才举行了两届F1夜间赛事，其疲态就可见一般。 新加 坡举办F1赛车当然不是其来有自，有其发展起来的硬体措施和车迷人口，而是为了经济效益，赚别人的钱。所谓经济效益，当然是政府每投入一块钱，可能就给民 间商业带来十元的回报，那才有意义。但是看了新传媒的一系列报道，我们可以知道，凡是和F1赛事扯上关系的，直接如住宿、交通，间接如消闲、餐饮、购物等 等，几乎是个个都怕了这个赛事；不止不想会在赛事期间大发利市，反而想在赛事之前、之后设法补救，这才是真正一个大大的“怕”字。 据报道，酒店客房的费用也从年初的2000元，下降到300元左右，才勉强取得七成住客率，这简直比平时还惨。载客服务业贡龟，完全不奢望有客载。门票方面，易华仁指出，F1赛车的准备工作进展顺利，但随着全球经济不景气，售票状况难免受到影响，因此今年的观赛人数，可能无法达到去年的10万人次；此外，饭店客房预订状况，也不如去年。 既然F1赛事的经济效益那么差，丑闻还频传，下一次就别搞嘛，事情决不是那么简单的，郑丁贤说：『俗人如我等，看不出这项投资的可行性；或许，政府和几位企业家，有一般人看不懂的算盘。/要搞可以，条件是不要动用国库经费（人民的钱）；最好立下合约，有任何手尾，绝对不要政府拯救。』——郑丁贤说的是目前马来西亚政府要考虑的问题，而新加坡的情况是已经投进火炕。 据外电报道：『新加坡为了取得F1主办权，政府投入大笔资金，并向饭店额外征收20%到30%的旅游税，导致去年新加坡的饭店平均每晚住宿费用要价462新元，让旅客望之却步。』——现今旅店客房可以收300元一晚，是不是意味着这个旅游税也泡汤了呢？ 赶时髦有时是好的，可是样样都赶在时髦换季的尾尖，如赛车和赌馆，那真的是有时不我与之叹，大喊“闭翳”了！最后谁买单，当然是人民咯！  Read More →

From our Correspondent In an article published on 23 September 2009, state-owned English Daily The Straits Times boasted unshamedly about the "popularity" of SPH websites among Singapore netizens: "SINGAPORE'S Netizens can't seem to get enough of AsiaOne, zaobao.com and Hardwarezone.com and ST701," its opening paragraph screamed. According to web tracking service Hitwise's rankings, the four Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) websites are Singapore's favourite websites in their respective categories. Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao's website, zaobao.com, is Singapore's most popular print news and media site; ST701 topped the online classified listings; and Hardwarezone topped the technology media category for the six months to June. It was not mentioned that SPH enjoyed a virtual monopoly in both the print and online news media industry with literally no competitors. Under such "unique" circumstances, it is not a surprise that SPH websites top most of the listings since readers have no alternatives to choose from. However, for all their self-praise, all SPH-owned sites did poorly in one category - politics. According to Hitwise, "wayang party" is the most frequent search term for the industry "Lifestyle - Politics" ranked by clicks for the 24 weeks ending 19/09/2009 in Singapore: http://www.hitwise.com/sg/datacentre/main/dashboard-68.html The second most frequent search term is "wayangparty" followed by "sdp", "huffington" post and again "the wayang party". There was no sight of any SPH sites in the top five. Together with The Online Citizen, both sites have a higher readership than the government-owned REACH portal, YPAP, PAP and the nearly defunct p65.sg which has faded off from the Alexa traffic ranking altogether due to its dismal traffic. SPH's inability to capture the attention of politically savvy and mature readers is glaring considering its extensive reach and pervasive presence. The fact that "wayangparty" is the most frequent search term for readers looking for political news and analysis is a damning indiction of SPH's failure to provide a fair and balanced coverage of political news and to promote meaningful public discourse on current affairs. Without its monopoly, resources and tacit support from the government, it is unlikely that these SPH sites will continue to dominate Singapore's hit charts given the quality and depth of their content. Instead of cheering at its hollow victory, SPH should be ashamed of allowing itself to become a propaganda mouthpiece of the ruling party rather than a media company which exists truly for the sake of its clients - the readers.  Read More →