Bush's trip to Asia:

President George Bush's trip to Japan, China and South Korea ends today with a whimper, rather than a policy bang. He went to Japan to try to convince the Japanese government to lift blocks against US beef (can you say, misplaced Japanese government fears of Mad Cow Disease?). He did not get the concession. He went to South Korea to highlight our alliance... And the South Korean government anounced that it was going to pull out its troops from Iraq. He went to China to promote freedom and to argue for the increased higher valuation of the Yuan relative to the Dollar, but two days before his arrival, innocent civilians were apprehended for the unspeakable crimes of "printing Bibles". In addition, the Chinese seem reluctant to let their Yuan rise in comparison to the Dollar at any faster rate than is already being allowed as a concession to the US. For more information, see the piece in the Washington Post

... For more detailed information on currency manipulation, see the previous post here at the Conspiracy.

NEW HAMPSHIRE:

The NH Pop Media are abuzz with John Lynch's weekend visit to a Manchester Unemployment office that was kept open on a Sunday to help the "displaced" workers of Car Component Technologies (CCT), a Bedford/Merrimack company that recently closed its doors without warning. (For more: Union Leader)

The closing of a business without any warning is a perfect opportunity for political grandstanding. Hence this line from Governor Lynch: "I'm really disgusted with how CCT acted in this situation,", and his visit to the state office of wealth redistribution. There are some key points to be made here.

First: The time period for receipt of unemployment compensation has been lengthened so far that the amount an unemployed man can recieve in compensation now far exceeds the amount which he was forced to pay in unemployment taxes.

Second: The fact that the state (in the generic sense) takes money to create unemployment "insurance" runs contrary to the foundational philosophy underlying the creation of a state in the first place.

Third: John Lynch's criticism of CCT smacks of profound hypocrasy and busybodyism. One must ask himself, despite what he might think of CCT's actions -- which do seem less than honorable -- what were the prior agreements made by the company and its employees? Were there clauses in their contracts about "forewarning" for closure of the business? Was fraud committed? This is doubtful. What we see is the state's politicians "investigating" to see if the "closure" was "legal". Laws stipulating that companies must close in certain ways stand in contravention to the principles of freedom of contract. This freedom is to be held by both the company owners and the employees. One can turn away from a potential employer if he wishes, if the employer does not provide enough details in the contract regarding how "closing" will be handled. It is not the concern of the state unless fraud has occured, and there can be a good case to be made that even then, there are private alternatives that can work just as well.

Fourth: How much does one imagine CCT has paid over the years in Busines Enterprise Taxes to NH? Might that money, taken from it and redistributed to others for what the politicians feel is "right", have been used as severance packages for the employees, if it hadn't been taken by John Lynch's freinds in Concord?

These are only a few items to ponder, beyond what we have seen on television...