California INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS Report | |
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U.S. Trade Deficit Soars, Dollar Dropping The United States Trade Deficit "current accounts balance" - the difference between foreign trade and investment in the United States and American trade and investment abroad soared to a stunning half trillion dollars- and for the first time in history America has become a net importer of food- now shipping in about 51 percent of what we eat. As a result of the Bush Administration weak dollar policy, our currency is also dropping on all major markets except the Chinese Yuan- which is linked to its value. This is not necessarily considered to be a bad thing for those involved in international business as it makes American goods and services cheaper, and therefore easier to sell on international market- however it also makes foreign travel much more expensive. Meanwhile, the Federal budget deficit has exploded to an astronomical 400 billion dollars as the President and Congress continue to spend vastly more then the Government takes in. None of this seems to have bothered American consumers as the all important day-after-Thanksgiving Holiday shopping kick off indicates that this feeding frenzy of purchasing continues unabated, pushing household debt to an all time high. Not too many people think this strange economy is sustainable- something has to give, but no one is sure exactly what- another recession? a resurgence of inflation? increased unemployment? We will do our best to cover these issues as they relate to California International Business but in the meantime we are reminded of an ancient Chinese curse. "May you live in interesting times". |
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 News and Politics back
Schwarzenegger Invades Japan
The Governor's showmanship was on full display at Tokyo's Roppongi Hills amphitheater at an event that was open to the public. The rally began with a multi-media presentation of California scenes – Half Dome, Chinatown, Sea World, the Hollywood sign – playing on a gigantic TV screen while the sound system blasted a medley of old old rock and roll Beach Boys hits like "California Girls" and "California Dreaming". Then an actor dressed as the Terminator in black leather gear and wrap around sunglasses roared onto the outdoor stage aboard a loud smoking Harley-Davidson. The audience cheered wildly as the actor roared off stage. The curtain parted and Governor Shuwa-can, as Schwarzenegger is affectionately called, took the stage to thunderous applause. The rally was announced by a billboard-size banner outside the new, Roppongi Hills development. It showed the Republican governor posing before the Golden Gate Bridge: "Arnold Says Visit California. You'll Be Back". Earlier Schwarzenegger had hosted "The Taste of California," at the Grand Hyatt Hotel at an event meant to sell the Japanese public on California agricultural products and travel. Japanese travel professionals, food buyers and food writers attended the invitation-only event, along with California agricultural and tourism officials. Several world-renowned California and Japanese chefs were supplied with California-grown ingredients and created meals in an event similar to a popular Japanese cooking show, "Iron Chef". California cuisine and wines were available to the hundreds of attendees. The event, which featured a video presentation of Schwarzenegger movie clips was intended to turn Japan's warm feelings for Schwarzenegger into improved business and trade.
The Governor also met with Toyota Motor Corporation President Fujio Cho who he hoped to convince to build a new factory for producing the hybrid Prius vehicle in California, or at least open discussions on the possibility. The meeting with Toyota officials was described as "polite,'' but not definitive. This is considered to be a tough sell because land and labor are so much cheaper in other states. Governor Schwarzenegger also attended a reception at the home of U.S. Ambassador Howard H. Baker and sponsored by the California Commission For Jobs and Economic Growth honoring more than two dozen Japanese companies including Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd.; Mitsubishi Corporation; Fuji Xerox Co.; Ltd., Hokuto Corporation; Hitachi, Ltd.; Honda Motor Co., Ltd.; Kikkoman Corporation; Kawasaki Heavy Industries; Fujitsu Limited; Toshiba; Mitsubishi Motors Corporation; Japan Airlines, and All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd. During his remarks at the reception, Governor Schwarzenegger thanked those in attendance, saying "there is a tremendous history of investment, trade and tourism between Japan and California. I hope to continue and expand that tradition". The Governor spoke of the renewed prospects for trade growth between the "new California," which has refinanced its debt, reined in spending and broken down barriers to doing business, and the "new Japan," which has reformed its banking laws and emerged from a protracted recession. Not everything was sweetness and light. Many people expressed disappointment that Schwarzenegger has supported President Bush- both Bush and the war in Iraq are extremely unpopular in Japan, especially among younger people. Mariko Watanabe, a 27-year-old writer for a food magazine, was quoted as saying that Schwarzenegger's new role as a politician might actually hurt his status as a salesman who has promoted many products here in over-the-top commercials. "I used to think he was very tough, a big hero. Many young people who read newspapers and stuff are disappointed he is with Bush,'' said Watanabe. California promoters have plastered the Governor's face on brochures, billboards and posters in Japan urging consumers to, among other things, drink California wines and visit SeaWorld. Japan is California's top investor, and its second most important trading partner after Mexico. More than 48,000 people in California work for companies based in Japan. Backlog Cleared at Ports. A huge off shore traffic jam of massive container ships waiting to unload at the Posts of Los Angeles and Long Beach has been cleared. West Coast maritime industry officials announced that operations in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have returned to normal following five months of congestion that caused many ships to remain idle and anchored at sea for up to four days. This backlog, caused by record-breaking import volume that required the hiring of additional labor to handle it, sparked anxiety among retailers and manufacturers throughout he country, especially those relying on goods in anticipation of the upcoming holiday shopping season. When the backlog was at its most acute stage, more than 30 ships were idle at any one time, stalling the movement of tens of thousands of cargo containers. To ensure an adequate labor supply, mechanisms are now in place to automatically add temporary workers to the labor force when existing casuals are promoted to registered status. Also, several member companies plan on accelerating the introduction of technology to improve productivity at the terminals over the long-term. It is hoped that implementing these measures will enhance Southern California's leadership position in international trade. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach together handle 44 percent of waterborne cargo imported into the United States. They comprise the nation's busiest port complex and the third most active container operation in the world First Conviction for Sexual Tourism. The first American to be tried under the new "sexual tourism" law was found guilty of attempting to travel to the Philippines to sexually molest young girls. This was the first cast to go to trial under a federal law passed last year that strengthened the government's ability to crack down on pedophiles who travel overseas to molest poor children. John W. Seljan, 86, of Orange County was arrested at LAX as he attempted to board a flight with dozens of pornographic photographs of himself with Filipino girls, sex toys and 100 pounds of chocolate and candy. In a related story a San Diego man was indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles yesterday on sex-tourism and child pornography charges. Edilberto Datan, 60, was arrested as he returned from his native Philippines on Nov. 4 after inspectors at Los Angeles International Airport discovered hundreds of digital pictures of young boys, according to law enforcement authorities. Agents focused on Datan because he was among about 130 people in San Diego and Imperial counties whose names appeared on a list of people who used credit cards to buy child pornography from a Belarus-based ring. Ten men have faced prosecution under the new law- called the "Protect Act", including Walter Schirra, 54, son of Walter M. Schirra Jr., the former astronaut, who was arrested on Nov. 6 in San Francisco as he was about to board a flight to Thailand, his second trip there this year, where investigators say they believe he solicited sex with boys. "One of the sad realities of these cases," the United States attorney in Los Angeles, Debra W. Yang, said "is that when people go to other countries to prey on poor children they are laboring under the mistaken notion they are outside the reach of the law", Under the Protect Act, pedophiles can be prosecuted for merely trying to travel overseas to molest children, if the intent is clear. USC Student Site Lets Americans Apologize for Bush. A University of Southern California Student has published a website to let Americans apologize to the world for the reelection of President Bush. James Zetlen posted a picture of himself holding a sign that read: "Sorry world (we tried) - half of America". Within two weeks, the site had received more than 50 million visits as thousands of heartbroken Americans posted pictures of themselves apologizing to the for the election. All the pictures share a common theme, asking forgiveness of the world for the re-election of Bush. More than 15,000 photos have been received thus far but the operators will not post anything deemed too hateful of President Bush. Many foreigners have also posted pictures accepting the apologies. Among the more that provoking was a post by a German that said, "It's OK America, we've made mistakes too". The pictures can be seen at: www.sorryeverybody.com Author of Rape of Nanking Dies. Acclaimed author Iris Chang, the Chinese-American author of the best-selling book The Rape of Nanking: the Forgotten Holocaust of World War II died this month of an apparent suicide. The 36-year-old writer and journalist, who chronicled the rape and massacre of thousands of Chinese civilians by Japanese troops during World War II, was found shot dead in her car on November 9. Family members said she suffered from depression and had been previously hospitalized for it. US Representative Michael Honda sent an envoy to read a tribute that he presented in Congress earlier in the week and China's Vice Consul General Ciu Xuejun attended the burial along with hundreds of mourners. Chang was a leading non-fiction author and was widely known in both the US and Asia for her studies of Chinese immigrants and their descendents. The Chinese in America: A Narrative History was published last year and traces more than 150 years of Asian American history. During the past decade, Chang was a leading voice in calling for Japan to pay reparations and issue an official apology for wartime atrocities. She was also a co-founder of the Global Alliance for Preserving the History of World War II in Asia.
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Letters to the Editor back
Letter from Consul General of Austria Congratulations on an absolutely first rate e-publication! This is the first time I have seen it and have read every word. Outstanding inside information obviously culled from many reliable sources. It is "must" reading for me from now on. Keep it up Donald Carlton Burns Wants us to Come Together and Support President Bush Wow, what a negative cover letter you have produced. For better or worse, Our Nation by a majority of all votes have elected President George W. Bush. Polarization of our nation will continue with negative documents and responses such as yours. If you so choice you can help our nation become one again. The statement "United We Stand, Divided We Fall" continues to this day and forever forward. Let's work forward and try to work together to become One Nation. Jeff Bjork El Monte, California Wants us to Recognize Damage done by Bush Administration Folks, your California International Business Report is a refreshing, intelligent, common-sense and even slightly humorous gem. A report focused on international business must recognize the damage wrought by the Bush Richard C. Mains Says Democrats, Liberals, and Seculars Rejected by Country After reading your opening editorial comments (Bush Elected, etc.) why would I be interested in this publication's opinions on California Trade? I'm not interested in distorted data ... California is not made entirely of Liberal Democrats .... Look at the US map of election returns. 80% of the State is RED ... LA County, Santa Barbara, Alameda and SF do not represent the opinions or values of the rest of the State ... You don't get it. The agenda of the Democrats, liberal, secular, was rejected by the country. Robert Fraser President Fraser International Marketing Group Hacienda Heights, California
Also Says We Don't Get it I am a life time democrat from Massachusetts living in Caleefornia for 15 years. Your editorial lead posing as news sheds new light on your publication. You are not paying attention to what the democratic party is starting to figure out. California was ignored because the California democratic party has over the years chosen to ignore it's foundation support. Instead of focusing on hard working honest moral working class people the elitist California types have decided to focus on criminal rights, welfare promotion, salamander rights, and gay rights. This has put off people like me and have made me a republican in recent years. Since the majority of the states are not as fortunate as California to have money floating around all over the place their citizens focus on basics. I suspect you and your like will continue to "not get it" and continue to drive more people to the republican party. Robert Gates MCI Transformer Corporation West Willits, California Thinks National Republican Policies are Disgusting I see that Roger is still flogging the Republican cause. Please keep it a slight bit Democratic. the National Republican Policies are Disgusting. George Urda President CAL MARK Beverage Company Novato, California Wants to Avoid Political Correctness Excellent Newsletter! .. The comment from the guy about picking on the conservatives too much may have been appropriate but I feel that being super politically correct all the time is not only overrated but trendy and useless. You have to urge people into action for change and the state and country need change right now. If that means taking a political stand using a bit of shock value in doing so to make it work, then go for it. By the way, what is your reaction to the cover story of the Daily Mirror for Thurs. Nov 4? "How can 59,054, 087 people be so dumb?" I agree with the Daily Mirror. Eric Denniston Managing Director Denner Group International San Diego, California Leaving California Because of Democrats What I thought would be an unbiased report on the economy of California seems to read like it was written by the Chairman of the Democratic National Party! It is with great pleasure I leave the state of CA. permanently in 45 days, the politics of the state legislature, with the idiotic anti-business bills introduced and passed and sent to the Governor is mildly put "outrageous". read, print or put in the washroom I really could care less. B. Richardson Editors note: I am not a registered Democrat and voted for Republican candidates in both the Governor's recall election and in several recent local elections.. Doesn't want Democratic Leaning Material Please unsubscribe me from your democratic leaning report. Those that voted for Bush and export as well believe that international business will be up and a smaller government is a good thing. Save the woe for the people that agree with you which apparently are the people of California and New York. Mike Winlass Spectratek Los Angeles Editors note: Requests to unsubscribe or remove from our mailing lists are promptly honored.
Translator likes Content I wanted to just drop you a quick note to say congratulations on putting together your newsletter. It looks like it has some great content, and as a freelance translator, I look forward to following a bit more about what's going on with international business in the state. Naomi Baer Says Small Business Needs more Information. Although being only a Small Business Owner currently, I appreciate your news...I spent a small part of my morning perusing through the articles... Keep up the good work, we need more information and more data... Editors Note: We would be delighted to publish more small business stories but they are harder to find than stories about larger organizations. Please let us know of smaller companies with innovative approaches to international business development or other issues you think are important to small business.. The Red Welfare States On the subject of a divided nation….I understand that most (if not all) of the blue (Kerry) states are feeder states to the nation’s budget (provide more taxes than receive funding), and that most of the red (Bush) states are drains to the nation’s budget (receive more funding than contribute taxes). Can you comment on that? Is there an irony here? Michael E. Dozier Community and Economic Development Director City of Clovis Editors Note: That is our understanding also. Seventeen of the nineteen States that voted against Bush pay more in Federal Taxes than they take in. For every dollar that California pays to the Federal Government only about 81 cents comes back. The States that voted for Bush are known for being against "big government welfare" but they benefit greatly from the tax dollars of the Blue States. Governor Schwarzenegger has promised to be the "collectinator" to allievate this disparity. Ex Californian Wants News from Home I appreciate the facts and investigative reporting your newsletter covers. It is relevant and real-time information that puts California business and trade at center stage. I don’t think I have read as much edgy reporting in the La Times or SD Tribune. I would like to hear more about how San Diego is doing? Isn’t the City bankrupt? Don’t you think some resignations are in order? The City Planner, the Mayor, the Board? Can you tell me if the City’s preoccupation with proceeds derived from real estate and retail taxes (instead of initiating creative projects to lure industrial services, consumer services and manufacturing companies and create a professional class) has aided in the City’s demise? Orin Ford Minneapolis, Minnesota Editors Note: Although this question is not really related to international business, I'll take the bait. It's true- the city of San Diego is on the verge of bankruptcy and has been called "Enron by the Sea" by the New York times, but the idea of someone accepting accountably and resigning with honor is another quaint notion from a bygone era. It started Republican National Convention in 1996 when the Mayor borrowed millions from its pension plans to cover the cost of holding the Convention in order to keep it "off the books". In exchange, city employees and bureaucrats were given an absurdly generous benefits and pension package including a large lump sum payout for deferred retirements. This unholy alliance continued with subsequent Republican administrations and the same technique was used to cover operating costs and underwrite numerous city projects. This scam was brought to light earlier this year when it was discovered that city had for years been shortchanging its public pension fund, leading to an unfunded liability of more than $1.15 billion, or that the city owed nearly $1 billion more in health care benefits to retirees and did not have the money. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the United States attorney’s office in San Diego has since opened investigations this year into possible and political corruption. San Diego has always been controlled by a closed group of Republican insiders, and sometimes the Democratic Party doesn't even bother to field a credible candidate for Mayor. This year, however, as the scandal broke, City Councilwoman Donna Frye, wife of surfing legend Skip Frye, announce a write in candidacy just five weeks before the election. Write in campaigns almost never succeed, but she was able to turn out a large group of voters disgusted by "politics as usual" in San Diego. Councilwoman Fry apparently got a majority of the votes, but we had our won version of "hanging chads" in the form of "empty bubbles". Theses were ballots where the voters wrote in the name of Ms. Frye but didn't fill in the bubble indicating that this was a write in ballot. Unfortunately, a Northern California Judge has ruled that "intent of the voter" of those who clearly wrote in Frye's name was less important than a strict legal definition of an acceptable ballot and the "empty bubbles" ballots will not be counted. The Lawyers will probably go at it for awhile, but It looks like Republican Mayor Dick Murphy, a retired Judge, will continue to be Mayor with less than 35 percent of the vote. Apologies to Ensenada, BC You will no doubt receive many e-mails correcting the name of the city in Baja from Encinitas to Ensenada, but in the off chance that you don't, I thought I'd send the correction along. Good luck to you on the newsletter. The Aburto Family San Diego, California
Editors Note: Whoops!
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Governor Wants to Make Commercials to Finance Trade Offices. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who made millions during the 1990s with wacky Japanese television commercials for noodles and energy drinks, declared during his trip to Japan that he intends to film more spots and use his pay to reopen California's shuttered trade office in Japan. "It's quick money," Schwarzenegger told reporters after being interviewed on Japan's top national television newscast. "You work for a day, and you then have a trade office open. You have enough money then for several years. That's really the way to go". California, which closed its foreign trade offices because of a scandal and budget troubles under former Governor. Gray Davis, can't afford to reopen them, Schwarzenegger said. He made the unusual suggestions for reopening the trade offices shortly after arriving in Japan for his four-day trade mission. California Might Tax Cars for Mileage. Governor Schwarzenegger has appointed a new Department of Motor Vehicles director who has advocated taxing motorists for every mile they drive — possibly by placing tracking devices in their cars. As Californians drive increasingly more fuel-efficient cars, state officials are alarmed that the gasoline tax is not raising enough money to keep up with road needs. Governor Schwarzenegger compounded the problem by cutting the new vehicle registration tax on his first day in office creating an additional shortfall of about four billion dollars. Under the plan, the state gas tax would be replaced with a tax on every mile traveled by each car and truck. There are some major problems with this proposal. Altering the system would remove one incentive to buying new-technology hybrid cars because its owner would pay the same fuel tax as the owner of an gas guzzling SUV. Privacy advocates worry about the government tracking the whereabouts of every car in California. In one scenario tracking devices send a signal to a GPS satellite following the car, and that information would be used to calculate the tax bill. Other devices send a signal directly from the car to the pump, which calculates the tax based on the odometer reading. Officials are intrigued by the idea because California could begin taxing people for using specific roads at specific times. To keep people off freeways at peak hours, for example, per-mile fees for city streets could be pegged at a lower rate than the highway. Schwarzenegger wants more hybrid and hydrogen-fueled cars, and his new EPA secretary, Terry Tamminen, is writing a book about ending the use of oil entirely, calling it a "dinosaur". Unskilled Workforce is Harming Los Angeles Economy. The Los Angeles' economy is hampered by a large unskilled work force and will remain stagnant unless there is a major effort to upgrade the educational level, English-language ability and technical training of the city's large poor and immigrant populations, according to a study initiated by Mayor James Hahn's Office. The L.A. Economy Project, an $850,000 study by the Economic Roundtable and Milken Institute, sought to match existing regional businesses with changing work forces so that more poor and low-skilled workers can get jobs that lead to career advancement. The study confirmed the existence of a large population of "working poor" who are concentrated in restaurants, with 55,746 workers; construction, with 44,889; private households, with 22,556; and apparel, with 21,365, out of 1,670,429 workers in 2002 in the city. Daniel Flaming, president of the Economic Roundtable, a downtown nonprofit that studies local economic trends, said for years the region could coast on its reputation, and manufacturers who paid blue-collar workers good wages. "Historically, the sunshine, beaches and Hollywood were enough to keep our economy going. But with the bust in aerospace in the 1990s, we finally hit a point where good things didn't just happen by themselves. The chance for, often a man, with a willingness to work, and a strong body, is (mostly) gone," Flaming said. "The industrial restructuring has led to large-scale outmigration of people who lived here. About 1 million left in the early 1990s, and another 1 million who lived abroad moved in. Along with their willingness to work, many have come with limited skills". Trade seen as job engine. Southern California's best hope for a strong economic growth is to expand the number of "logistics" and trade jobs -- ranging from truckers and warehouse workers to freight forwarders, couriers and airline pilots -- a panel of top regional experts said. The strategy, in which cargo facilities at LAX and the Port of Los Angeles would play a key role, would require gigantic investments in such transportation infrastructure projects, but it could solve one of the region's biggest problems: how to provide blue-collar jobs that not only pay well but also generate crucial tax revenue in a region whose work force increasingly lacks any education beyond high school, the experts said. Their consensus vision of how to shape the region's economy for the coming century emerged at an economic conference at Disney Concert Hall sponsored by the Southern California Association of Governments. The growing logistics industry would offer blue-collar workers without college educations a "ladder" into jobs that currently pay an average of $45,314 annually replacing the region's manufacturing sector, which has declined steadily over the past two decades with the collapse of the aerospace industry. Without a major investment in logistics infrastructure, the region will continue to suffer from a variety of ills, including a decline in well-paying jobs, stagnant government revenues and housing costs that are beyond the reach of most residents.. Military Space Industry Study Released. The California military space industry, led by the Los Angeles Air Force Base, supports $16 billion of economic activity in the state each year, according to a report by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation. The report comes amid the possibility that the military facility, located in a commercial area of El Segundo, could be put on the Defense Department's chopping block when a base closure list comes out next year. The Pentagon wants to close 25% of the nation's military bases to eliminate surplus capacity and save billions of dollars. The Los Angeles Air Force Base manages most of the service's military spacecraft acquisition programs, including communications and navigation as well as many intelligence spacecraft. The base has about 5,000 direct employees, but it sustains the Aerospace Corp., a nonprofit federal research center also in El Segundo. The report estimates that the industry supports 49,300 jobs in Los Angeles County and 111,700 across the state, including many direct jobs at companies that receive contracts from the base and many indirect jobs that the economic activity generates. Entertainment Group Bails on Industry Study. An project to fully measure California's entertainment economy has become embroiled in politics and is being abandoned by the group that started the project. The first phase of the Entertainment Data Report will be released in about three weeks but the Entertainment Industry Development Corp, the group that oversaw the two-year, $1 million study, does not want to be associated results or with follow on studies. The EIDC's directors cut the project loose because they could not afford to fund it while overhauling their operations after the embezzlement conviction of former president Cody Cluff. At the same time, sources say board members were not comfortable with the completeness of the report and, to a lesser degree, there were concerns that its findings could be interpreted in ways that would challenge common wisdom about runaway production. Governor Gray Davis allocated $742,500 to the project in May 2002 from work force investment act funds and the EIDC said at the time that the project would produce the kind of "real, hard numbers" that would allow the state to better understand Hollywood's economic impact. The Los Angeles-based EIDC contributed about $200,000, mainly for overhead for a project staff that reached 14 at its peak. As the project got under way, it became apparent that the methodology was using a very broad definition entertainment industry employment including even security guards and catering. The wider definition of entertainment employment sparked concern was that the methodology could overstate labor levels and therefore understate runaway production. The debate over runaway production -- the loss of traditional Hollywood-based jobs to other countries like Canada -- is was previously estimated to be b costing the U.S. economy more than $10 billion dollars. USC Receives $100 Million Grant From U.S. Army. USC's Institute for Creative Technologies has received a second five-year grant, with the U.S. Army more than doubling its support to $100 million. The endowment represents the largest research grant ever received by the University of Southern California (USC), which originally partnered with the U.S. Army in 1999 to create a new generation of decision-making and leadership-development tools for troops. Just after the 9/11 attacks, there was great concern that the Government and the Military had lost the ability to "think out of the box" but the terrorists apparently had not. The White House and Army asked the ICT to convene television and film writers, producers and directors, as well as technologists, to help the government assess possible other terrorist scenarios. Over the last two years the ICT has been also helped create computer simulations based on game platforms that have helped support the military's position during the Middle Eastern conflict and the war on terror. Mixing the creative input of entertainment artists, military technology and academic researchers, the mandate of the ICT is the creation of Simulations for Interactive Learning, with elements ranging from immersive San Diego Gains Afghan Sister City. San Diego and the war-torn Afghan city of Jalalabad will initiated a sister-city partnership during a ceremony at the University of San Diego. Mayor Dick Murphy and Abdul Razzaq Arsalai, mayor of Jalalabad, signed the agreement at the university's Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice. Following the ouster of the Taliban government by U.S. forces, members of Rotary International initiated the process through Sister City International. "Establishing sister-city relations between San Diego and Jalalabad opens a permanent channel for people-to-people contacts and exchange between the citizens and institutions of our two cities," said David Edick, junior president of the San Diego International Sister Cities Corp. "It provides an opportunity to improve mutual understanding and cooperation with a culture and part of the world Americans know little about," Jalalabad, located in the Himalyas near the Khyber Pass and the Pakistani border, is the capital of the Nangarhar province and home to several hundred thousand people. The partnership has already spawned several projects. San Diego State University is working to establish a computer lab at Jalalabad's Nangarhar University, thanks to a grant from Padres owner John Moores. Rotary and Sister City Committee members also helped build a 1,400-student elementary school in the city. Identification Cards Required for Transportation Workers. In a move to tighten the nation's security, federal officials announced the launch of a worker identification program that would eventually require background checks and identification cards for 6 million truck drivers, dock workers and cargo handlers at U.S. ports, airports and railways. The new security effort will begin on a trial basis at three dozen sites throughout the country, including Los Angeles International Airport, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and eight other port-related locations in Southern California. The cards will be linked to an individual's "biometric" imprint — either a fingerprint, a handprint or an iris scan of the eye — so that lost or stolen cards cannot be used by anyone else. Asa Hutchinson, a top official in the Department of Homeland Security, called the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program "a significant enhancement that will prevent terrorists and other unauthorized persons from gaining access to sensitive areas of the nation's transportation system". Hutchinson, undersecretary for border and transportation security, said his department would develop "very careful standards" to assure that individuals would be deemed security risks only when their backgrounds included criminal histories that had a possible link to terrorism or other serious crimes. Homeland Security Network Formed. San Diego business and retired military leaders have formed a nonprofit group that intends to make the area a center for developing new security technologies. The group will operate as an umbrella organization for nine interest groups focused on such issues as border and port security. It also will work to promote advances in security technology for both government and commercial use, in part by operating as a test bed for innovations funded through government grants. The organization has an advisory committee that includes the Navy, FBI, San Diego Homeland Security and law enforcement agencies. "Homeland security is not a business, it's a funding source," said Michael B. Jones, a San Diego investment banker serving as chairman of the network's executive board. Chinese American International School wins Award. The Chinese American School of San Francisco, and elementary/middle school, has won a Goldman Sachs Foundation Prize for Excellence in International Education. At this school, where half the students are non-Asian, students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade study all subject areas in both Mandarin Chinese and English and students develop computer presentation as part of final graduation in which Chinese and English are incorporated.
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Mergers in California Wine Industry. Two Californian wineries - Robert Mondavi and Chalone Wine - agreed to be acquired in separate deals. Constellation Brands, which bought Mondavi for US$1.04 billion, has been a driver of the consolidation. It has transformed itself from a small New York winery into the world's largest winemaker through 15 acquisitions in as many years, including last year's acquisition of Australia's BRL Hardy. The big global wine and spirits companies are about to descend on California," said Tom Pirko, president of consulting firm Bevmark. "They need name brands to sell worldwide." "It's the natural evolution of an industry," said Robert Nicholson, head of International Wine Associates, a Californian merger advisory and consulting firm. "Small players are banding together to better compete against the large alcohol and wine companies that have huge distribution capabilities". Other deals this year included the US$82 million ($118.6 million) acquisition of Napa Valley-based Golden State Vintners by San Francisco's The Wine Group and Terlato Wine taking control of Napa's Chimney Rock. American wine sales have slowed because of a world wide grape-glut, the success of lower-priced imports and the ever popular Charles F. Shaw label, nicknamed "two buck Chuck" and sold in Trader Joe's Markets. Smaller boutique vineyards selling high-end wines to collectors will still have a niche and be able to survive as independent wineries. Korea to Allow California Orange Imports. Korean Trade Officials have agreed to allow the import of California Oranges. In return, Korea will be able to export such cucurbit crops as pumpkins, water melon and grape to the U.S, according to the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The Korean products have been off limits to the U.S. market after Washington banned them out of concern over alleged harmful effects of an insect on the Korean cucurbits in 1991,’’ a Korean Trade official said. Despite Seoul’s repeated calls for lifting the import ban, Washington had taken a lukewarm attitude over re-importing the Korean products. But a breakthrough has reportedly been made in a recent bilateral meeting. The United States decided to accept the Korean cucurbit crops in return for Korea’s lifting of the ongoing ban on the American orange. The Seoul government will also take steps to allow the resumption of imports of oranges from California's Tulare and Fresno. The ban was made last April. Korea had imported 141,036 metric tons (MT) from those the two counties, 90.8 percent of total orange imports. Abercrombie & Fitch settles Discrimination Lawsuit for $40 Million. Civil rights attorneys announced the settlement of a class action lawsuit with the retail clothing giant Abercrombie & Fitch that requires it to pay $40 million dollars to Latino, African American, Asian American and women applicants and employees who charged the company with discrimination. The settlement also requires the company to institute a range of policies and programs to promote diversity among its workforce and to prevent discrimination based on race or gender. The lawsuit was originally filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco in June 2003 by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) on behalf of nine young adults including students and graduates of the University of California and Stanford, who were refused sales jobs or terminated based on their race or ethnicity. "This agreement promises to transform this company, whose distinctiveness will no longer stem from an all-white image and workforce," stated Thomas A. Saenz, an attorney for MALDEF. During the course of the negotiations, the plaintiffs were also represented by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), who validated their claims. New York Insurance Investigation hits Los Angeles, San Diego. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer expanded his bid-rigging probe of the insurance industry yesterday by suing a San Diego-based broker for practices Spitzer said raised premium costs for employees at leading U.S. companies. A civil suit filed by Spitzer in state Supreme Court in Manhattan contends that Universal Life Resources received millions of dollars in payments for steering customers to insurers -- including MetLife Inc., Prudential Financial Inc. and Unum Provident Corp. -- that provided life, accident and disability coverage for workers. The attorney general said his latest case is related to a civil suit he filed Oct. 14 against the largest U.S. insurance brokerage, Marsh & McLennan Cos., alleging fraud and anti-competitive practices within the insurance industry. In November, executives at The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. said two Los Angeles-based employees were fired after the company concluded they were not fully co-operating with Spitzer's bid-rigging investigation. As the Bush Administration has removed oversight of the financial services industry, Mr. Spitzer has emerged as a leading national figure in regulation of this industry. "Today's case demonstrates that the corrupt practices first laid bare in the Marsh suit are present in additional sectors of the industry," Spitzer said yesterday. "Secret payoffs and conflicts of interest that infected the market for property and casualty insurance have taken root in the employee benefits market as well". Boeing Satellite in El Segundo teaming with European Rival. Boeing Co., hoping to bolster its troubled satellite-making unit in El Segundo, is teaming up with a European rival to develop and build components for commercial satellites. Boeing reported that it struck a partnership deal with France-based Alcatel, Europe's largest satellite maker, to help develop and make communication subsystems for future satellite projects. The pact is the latest by aerospace companies to form transatlantic partnerships as a way to expand the market for their products. "For Boeing, it's rather novel," said Marco Caceres, a space analyst for Teal Group Corp. "Boeing likes to do things on its own. They would contract out a few things, but the actual assembly, integration, major subsystems, they've done in house". But Caceres said that with recent technical problems with one of Boeing's line of commercial satellites and because it faced a serious downturn in demand for commercial satellites, the company was "looking for any way to keep its production as busy as possible". Boeing was once the world's largest commercial satellite maker but has lost market share to European competitors such as Alcatel. Since 2000, its satellite-making unit, Boeing Satellite Systems, has slashed nearly half of its workforce in El Segundo to about 5,000 employees. Among the first projects for the partnership will be developing a satellite for a radio service. British Sotheby's buys Upscale Beverly Hills Real Estate Firm. Sotheby's International Realty, an up-scale name in the home-selling business, strengthened its presence in Southern California's affluent neighborhoods by acquiring DBL Realtors, the companies said in a press release. Realtor to stars such as Madonna and Ricky Martin, Sotheby's is a former division of the famous auction house. It was acquired by franchise giant Cendant Corp. this year. The firm sells homes in some of the world's most expensive communities — including the Provence region of France and Manhattan's Upper East Side. By acquiring Beverly Hills-based DBL, Sotheby's will be able to further expand its upmarket niche, Sotheby's Chief Executive Stuart Siegel said. DBL's nine-office operation sold $3.3 billion worth of homes in 2003, primarily in Hollywood Hills, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Pasadena and Palm Springs — markets Sotheby's hasn't fully cracked. eBay Launches Service for the Philippines. San Jose, California-based eBay announced a new portal designed for the Philippines that will be in English but will allow members to buy and sell items using the Philippine peso. "The launch of eBay Philippines brings our successful online marketplace to a growing Internet market in Asia," said Bill Cobb, senior vice president of eBay International. "eBay's global community already includes many thousands of members in the Philippines, and we are happy to provide them with their own dedicated website". Still in the early stages of development, online shopping in the Philippines is growing quickly. According to IDC's Internet Commerce Model (January 2004), business-to-consumer e-commerce is expected to grow from $828 million in 2004 to $2.9 billion in 2007. The launch of eBay's local website will allow the company to better serve its members in the Philippines, providing greater opportunity for local buyers and sellers to come together, build new local trading communities, and help expand the country's e-commerce. United Airlines to Expand California to Japan Service. United Airlines announced it will move up by more than two months the launch of daily, nonstop service between San Francisco International Airport and Nagoya, and double the service between Los Angeles International Airport and Tokyo. Service to the new Central Japan International Airport near Nagoya, Japan, will now begin March 26, 2005, rather than the original start date of June 1, | |
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Ken Cross has been named executive director/CEO for the Sacramento Habitat for Humanity. He has been acting executive director since April 2004. He brings more than 20 years of executive marketing and administrative experience to the position and will be targeting capacity building for qualified low-income families in Sacramento. Greg Cerlenko has been named chief operating officer. He previously served as director of community partnerships, heading fund development, corporate negotiations for sponsorships, grants, leases and contractual agreements for the affiliate. The Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization has named Charline Speck as director of business development. She has more than 20 years of economic development experience in the Central Valley, most recently as president and CEO of the Stanislaus County Economic Development Corporation. Monique Garcia-Gunther joins SACTO as director of marketing and communications. She has more than 10 years of marketing communications experience, and has held senior management positions with Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, Deen and Black Public Relations and Porter Novelli International. Shaunta Lee joins SACTO as an executive assistant and contracts manager for the Sacramento Research Regional Institute. SACTO works to bring together "organizations, information and resources in the pursuit of jobs, talent and money needed to ensure regional prosperity and global competitiveness." Korn/Ferry International a major provider of executive search services announced that Richard Spitz has been chosen to lead the Global Technology Market, effective immediately. Mr. Spitz will be co-located in Korn/Ferry's Los Angeles and Silicon Valley offices, and will report to Paul C. Reilly, chairman and CEO. Mr. Spitz has served as the Regional Market Leader for the Technology Market in North America, as well as Global Sector Leader for Software and Emerging Technologies, since 2001. In his new role, he will oversee the firm's global sector practices in software, emerging technologies, electronic systems, hardware, communications, convergence, and information technology services, as well as professional services. Michelle Messina of San Jose has started a new company Situational Marketing, Inc. to serve technology companies launching into the United States, with strategic marketing, program development, product launches, sales distribution and public relations services. She has put together an experienced team of technology marketing, PR and business management professionals, to deliver in-country consulting, training and advisory services and are experts at tailoring high-impact messages and programs for success in the U.S. market. She has also recently launched a 2-day workshop entitled “Launching Successfully into the US Markets” for entrepreneurs and CEOs that she intends to offer outside of the United States. More on Situational Marketing can be found on their website at www.sitmark.com
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We were worried that we might have gone a little over the top with our publication last month of The Project for a New California Century- as an alternative to the neoconservative Project for a New American Century. Now it turns out that since the last election much more radical groups have formed calling for outright succession. Move On California touts itself as the official website of the committee to explore California succession. According to their website: "The Committee to Explore California Secession seeks to bring together people who are concerned about the drift of the country's middle to the right. Religious conservatives are dominating politics and policy in the U.S. posing a threat to people who do not want such narrow views to run their lives". For Arnold Schwarzenegger fans there is a new movement afoot to amend the United States Constitution so that the Governor can run for President. The Governor has made no secret of his desire to be President and some of his rallies sound like early an Presidential bid already declaring success here: "we turned California around". The Governor holds a dual citizenship with Austria and the U.S. and but the Constitution forbid foreign born residents from running for President. A major Silicon Valley donor to the Schwarzenegger campaign, Lissa Morgenthaler-Jones, has launched a series of cable television ads calling for this constitutional change: "You cannot choose the land of your birth. You can choose the land you love" the ads say. The group also has a website at: www.amendforarnold.com. The Berkeley City Council, long known for its leftist stances, has adopted a resolution to oppose the Central America Free Trade Agreement called "Resolution to Preserve Local Sovereignty and Oppose CAFTA" by unanimous consent: CAFTA has been dubbed NAFTA on steroids and ties the Dominican Republic and five Central American nations -- Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua -- to the United States. It is thought that this will be the first step in a much larger plan for a Free Trade Area of the Americas. Several American cities including Boston, Philadelphia and Austin have passed resolutions opposing the hemisphere-wide FTAA, as well as labor, fair trade, environmental, women's, faith-based, human rights and reclaim democracy organizations in both the the U.S. and in Central America. Jesse Swanhuyser, director of the California Coalition for Fair Trade and Human Rights says, "The new generation of trade agreements sets policy far outside the traditional scope of 'trade' and increasingly restricts the democratic process at the local and state level". Congresswoman Hilda Solis, the only Congressperson of Central American descent, released a statement when CAFTA was signed saying it, "will mean more job loss and wage decline for American workers...a gift to corporate interests....Our trade policies should lift people out of poverty, not keep them in it....CAFTA is bad for American workers and bad for Central America". She may have a point, there is concern that heavily subsidized rice imports from California and other States could devastate local agriculture in Central America and could force the collapse of rice production in those six developing nations and put thousands of farmers out of business, according to a report issued by Oxfam America, a leading development agency. Something for everyone in California, and some of our right wing friends might be more interested in a California Republican group that has launched a television campaign calling for the United Nations (UN) to be kicked out of the United States, alleging the world body is a "safe harbor" for terrorism. Sacramento-based Move America Forward wants the world body's New York headquarters shut down and its officials expelled from the country because it failed to support the US-led war on Iraq. "The UN has become an apologist and defender of terrorist organizations and their agents," claims a 60-second commercial. Move America Forward's claims to be a "non-partisan, not-for-profit organization" committed to backing the US war on terror and supporting its troops. It is run by former Republican party politicians and a conservative talk show host. We've got a better idea- lets invite the United Nations back to their ancestral home of San Francisco and welcome them with open arms; however those who wish to throw rocks at the UN can find like minded people at http://www.moveamericaforward.org/ including Howard Kaloogian, previously a member of the California Assembly who claims credit for the recall of ex Governor Davis. When is a junket not a junket? According to an aide to Assemblyman Tim Leslie, R-Roseville, it is only a junket when the taxpayers pick up the tab and "go and have a really good time in Hong Kong and get cheap suits" The Daily News has reported that more than a dozen legislators have taken international trips in this last month with much of the tab being picked up by special interests. "Politicians get weak around special interests, especially when they're giving them the time of their life," said Doug Heller, executive director of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica. "These trips don't happen so there can be some kind of honest education about issues. These trips are just the cutting edge of buying off politicians and bureaucrats". The trips include a planned visit to Israel by seven lawmakers to study homeland security, organized and funded by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. The Jewish Federation is paying about $3,000 for travel and lodging costs for each legislator. The scheduled events include meetings with experts in homeland security and bioterrorism as well as a smaller trade and tourism component. Assemblyman Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, the Republican minority leader, is among those who will be traveling to Israel. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and two Assembly members went to Italy to look at power plants and infrastructure, courtesy of the California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy. The other legislators who went on the CFEE-funded Italy trip were Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys and Assemblywoman Carol Liu, D-Pasadena. The CFEE, which is paying for the trip, has representatives of industry and environmental groups on its board, although critics say it generally tilts in favor of industry-friendly policies. Members of the State Senate are visiting South Africa because California has sister-state relationships with Capetown and New South Wales, with officials from those regions and California visiting each other on a regular, rotating basis. Two of the trips, to Australia/New Zealand and to South Africa, are being paid for by the legislators themselves -- through their political committees funded by campaign donors. The World Trade Center of San Diego is one group that emphasizes junkets at the expense of almost everything else. Their most recent trip to China was attended by a group of Public Officials including the Lt. Governor, the President of San Diego State University and of course, the staff of the World Trade Center itself, and only a small handful of private companies. These trips are organized by the Asia Desk that is funded by a slush fund operated by San Diego County Supervisor Ron Roberts. Is anyone not traveling to China these days? We wanted to know what was going on at the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation so we called Lee Harrington their President and CEO but he couldn't talk to us because he was getting ready for a trip to - you guessed it- China. Since we weren't able to talk with them we snooped around their website a bit and found this press release about the China Opportunity Fund: "the China Opportunity Fund is now capitalized at 30 million (with a follow on $30 million in the works.) backed by capital from China, Taiwan, Singapore, New York, San Francisco, Japan and Los Angeles”. The Fund Manager Kevin Nikkhoo said, “We will work with our overseas investors to identify those ventures with the most international fast growth promise and bring their management teams to Southern California to develop into successful global businesses”. Are we missing something here? What about California ventures? What are we- chopped liver! The press release goes on to describe how the Los Angeles County Business Technology Incubator will help build these Chinese ventures and then as they grow will help site them throughout the area. More information about the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation can be found on their website at www.laedc.org.
We are still trying to find out if the State of California has plans for a new trade agency or some other public sector initiative so we called Howard Shatz of the Public Policy Institute of California who has specialized in this area. His take in a nutshell: zilch, zip, nada. Howard is a straight shooter and can be counted on to give an honest opinion on what he thinks would be sound public policy in this area. Also, since his position is funded by the institute and term-limited he has no particular axe to grind. He said that as far as he knows, there are no plans for any public sector "institutional" solution to international economic development in California. There had been several bills in the Legislature, some to reopen some trade offices, some to reestablish a government export finance office, and one that we reported here to establish a joint trial program between the USDOC and the State that apparently collapsed because the Federal Government wanted to charge for these services and other policy reasons. None of thes bills reached the Governor's desk and there is still no one in the State Government with the legal authority to oversee international trade policy issues. He expressed surprise, as did I, that so much emphasis was being place on the Trade Office issue- as a handfull of Trade Offices cannot really represent the international interests of a State as big as California. We also wanted know his opinion of the growing problem international junkets, "I want our legislators to travel" he said, but indicated that he thought this was just one small part of an economic development program. So what should the government do, I asked? "Well, as I testified before the State Assembly, it would be nice if they could fund just one small office- find a real pro then give them the time to come up with something really innovative- involving the private sector or the public sector or both". Are there any issues we should be looking at that we are not, I asked? Yes, he said, after thinking a minute. He said that the East Coast Ports were aggressively going after West Coast business and encouraging Pacific Shipping to go through the Panama Canal. New York, for example, has deepened its port and made a deal with the Longshoremen so they can offer better rates than on the West Coast- and no one is really doing anything about it. More about the Public Policy Institute of California can be found on theri website at www.ppic.org.
The Sacramento Bee has reported that more than 400 people from all ethnic backgrounds turned up to see Army Capt. James Yee was presented with a "Courage and Inspiration Award" by at the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Yee, you many recall, was the Muslim Chaplin at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba who was charged with spying by the U.S. Military. Many people, myself included, were incredulous the Al Quaeda could have infiltrated the U.S. Army in one of the most secured bases in the World, and as it turns out the Government's case was totally bogus. Yee, who is Chinese American, was charged last year with mishandling classified information, and spent 76 days in solitary confinement. The government's case against Yee was based on flimsy evidence and collapsed. The criminal charges against him were dismissed earlier this year. One of Yee's assistants at Guantánamo, Ahmad Al Halabi, also attended the fund-raiser. Al Halabi was tried this year at Travis Air Force Base as a member of the alleged Guantánamo spy ring. Al Halabi had originally been accused of attempting to spy for his native Syria. The naturalized U.S. citizen spent 10 months behind bars and could have faced execution. The Governments case against Al Halabi also collapsed. "Things like this should stop," said Linda Ng, president of the Sacramento chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans. "That's why all of us are standing together". The Chinese American Political Action Committee, active in the Sacramento area, co-sponsored an online petition asking the Army to apologize to Yee: "As Chinese Americans, we need to speak out," Ng, of the Organization of Chinese Americans, said "We should all be treated equally". This case may have been especially sensitive to Chinese Americans because they remember the case of Wen Ho Lee, a nuclear scientist formerly at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Wen Ho Lee was suspected of spying, but the case against him largely fell apart and he received a rare apology from a federal judge. Recently, Yee addressed the issue of racial profiling, albeit indirectly. He asked audience members whether they carry copies of a "Know Your Rights" card- "If you don't," he said, "please get one. You may need it, at least for the next four years." No more working in their jammies. The LA Times has reported that a group of highly paid state employees is upset about a new Schwarzenegger administration edict demanding that they show up for work from 9 to 5 at their offices. The employees in question, all of whom earn $100,000 a year or more, are political appointees on four obscure but influential state boards that govern workplace issues for everyone else in the state. These employees worked from their homes in the Bay Area, Los Angeles and San Diego rather than report to headquarters offices, most of which are in Sacramento. The Schwarzenegger administration believes many of the appointees are failing to do their jobs effectively. One board has a two-year backlog of work; another has 8,000 cases awaiting review. The boards handle thousands of appeals from people seeking workers' compensation and unemployment insurance payments, workplace safety complaints and labor issues involving farmworkers. Steve Maviglio, an appointee of former Gov. Gray Davis, sent out scores of campaign-related e-mails criticizing Schwarzenegger and Republican candidates during working hours on the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, where he serves full time. Maviglio's post also pays $114,191 a year, and he has worked from home as well as at the agency's Sacramento office. Maviglio, a former press secretary for Davis, drew complaints from California Republicans who said he seemed to be working harder trashing Schwarzenegger than reviewing insurance appeals. A few of the state employees have asked for, and received, time extensions to adjust to the changes. We reported here last month the reasons for cancellation of the Governor's trip to China was not a prisoner execution has most of the medial had reported, but instead came at the request of the Chinese Government. Now it has been reported that Mexican President Vicente Fox has abruptly canceled a three-day trip to San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento that had been planned for last week. The stated reason was the President Fox was busy with the national budget but. Presidential aides said Fox wanted to discuss the driver's license issue but was told there would be no concessions from Schwarzenegger and they would remain banned. In contrast to Japan, a large segment of the Mexican population dislikes Schwarzenegger. One is the license issue. Another is that the governor has acknowledged voting for Proposition 187, the 1994 initiative to cut off public services to illegal immigrants. A third is that Schwarzenegger has hired associates of exGovernor Wilson, the chief proponent for the initiative. When asked about it during the recall, Schwarzenegger said in a radio interview: "You have to understand, I love Mexico. I have done four movies in Mexico". Meanwhile, Amy's Kitchen is saying hasta la vista baby, in spite of the Governor's superhero efforts to keep them in California. The Santa Rosa company famous for its frozen vegetarian foods, will be moving its manufacturing operations to the State of Oregon. This decision ends a months-long competition between Schwarzenegger and Oregon's Governor Ted Kulongoski. Each wanted Amy's expansion for his own state and each pitched the company's executives in person the California Public Utilities Commission had been scheduled to vote on giving the company a special electricity rate, and the Governor even appointed the owners to his California Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth. The company will keep their headquarters here, and intends to stay on the Commission, but expects to save about a million dollars each year with their move out of State.
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Business Networking Portals. Many international business people have learned to take advantage of on-line business networks. They can be time consuming, but they are also an excellent way of making international contacts- especially for small business. These systems use a new genre of Internet Technology called "social networking" and allow varying degrees of freedom in contacting other members. Some of them use the "six degrees of separation" theory that everyone in the world are connected by no more than six other people. We thought we would use this space this month to briefly mention a few of the major services.
Skype Internet Telephony. Many international business people have been making effective use of the Skype™ Internet Telephony System. This was designed using peer-to-peer technology by the same guys who made Kaaza- the file sharing network that became the scorn of the entertainment industry. The service is known for it's clear audio communications even for international communications and is absolutely free, and has already been used by more than 38 million people. The software can be downloaded at www.skype.com
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December 2: Clairmont: An EU of Twenty-Five: Will the New Crew Change the Course? Organized by the European Union Center of California at Scripps College. http://www.eucenter.scrippscollege.edu/home/index.html December 4: Santa Rosa: Business Round Table at The California Human Development Corporation. A free event in Spanish sponsored by the Mexican Consulate in San Francisco, The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Sonoma County and the CHDCorp. For more information contact Bernardo Mendez, Trade Consul 415-354-1731. December 6-8: Monterey, Red Herring Fall Conference: Top 100 Innovators. Sponsored by Red Herring. The top 100 most innovative companies and their CEOs as selected by Red Herring Magazine. For more information: http://www.redherring.com/EventsHome.aspx December 6: Fullerton, New Uses for Documentary Letter of Credit Workshop. Sponsored by the Foundation for Emerging Markets at California State University Fullerton. Description of InterNetLC Utility Software and a Transactional Loan program which enables importers, exporters, service providers and bankers to save time and cost of payment for international transactions: http://www.babcla.org/ct_event_show.php?id=230 December 7: San Jose, The Taiwan and China Semiconductor Industry Outlook. Organized by the US-Taiwan Business Council. http://www.taiwan-china-outlook.com./ December 9: Los Angeles, Holiday Party and Casino. Hosted by the Los Angeles Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association. A Celebration of the the Holiday Season! Bring your family, staff and business associates to a fun filled evening with blackjack, craps and roulette tables, hot and cold hors d'oeuvres great prizes and great camaraderie. Cost: $45 for Members - $60 for Non-Members/Walk-ins. Please bring an unwrapped toy for their Toys for Tots Drive. Contact: Annemarie Ruitenbach, la.cbffa@verizon.net, Phone: 818-951-2851, www.lacbffa.org December 10: Oakland, International Trade Risk Management Seminar. Spopnsored by the U.S. Dept of Commerce and the Oakland Export Assistance Center. Topics Covered: Finding the right overseas partner for your company, Products and services offered by the U.S. Commercial Service to exporters, Protecting your company’s intellectual property rights (IPR), Resolving international trade issues impacting U.S. IT and Telecom companies, Patent and trademark issues Export financing opportunities, Managing trade risk in China Legal aspects of doing business in China Thriving without bribery in developing countries. Cost: $45 (meals included). Contact: Cindy Ma, December 14: San Francisco, SF Chamber's International Networking Reception. Join San Francisco Chamber of Commerce members, leaders of international organizations, and representatives from over 60 consulates for this exciting networking event in the inviting ambiance of Enoteca Viansa, premier winery tasting room in downtown San Francisco. Network and develop relationships while enjoying hors d'oeuvres and sophisticated Italian wine bar experience. Contact: Nadia Chan, SF Chamber of Commerce, nchan@sfchamber.com> December 15: Annual Holiday Luncheon and Holiday Party. Hosted by the Propeller Club of Los Angeles-Long Beach. Holiday music by the Broad Appeal Band. Cost $45, Self parking $6.00. Contact: Annemarie Ruitenbach., propellerclublalb@verizon.net, 818-951-2842, www.propellerclublalb.org December 15: San Pedro, WIT-MAS in Greece, Celebration and Charity Event. Please join Women in International Trade – Los Angeles (WIT-LA) on December 15th for its annual WIT-MAS event! This year’s event will be held at Papadakis Taverna in San Pedro. The evening will include authentic Greek cuisine, Greek music and dancing, wine, hors d'oeuvres, baklava, and our famous silent auction and raffle prize drawings to once again benefit our chosen charity, Clothes the Deal. Cost: 75.00 (80 after Dec. 1). Contact: WIT-line, Email: wit.la@verizon.net, (310) 535-0127. December 16: Oakland, Trading After Hours Holiday Mixer. The Bay Area World Trade Center brings you Trading After Hours Holiday Mixer for professionals in international trade. Please join us for a great evening of networking with our members and the Bay Area's international trade community! Contact: BAWTC Staff, 510.251.5903, December 16: Los Angeles, Internet Export Marketing, Export Seminar Series. Hosted by Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, US Commercial Services, LBA, CITD, Pierce College and SBDC. Learn how to make the best use of the Internet to conduct market research, find trade leads, attract inquiries, increase global exposure and transact sales electronically. Vanessa Pereda, vpereda@lachamber.org, 213.580.7538 Please send events for listing here to caltrade@gmail.com. If your event is near the first of the month, please make sure we get your listing at least 5 weeks in advance. | |
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Seeking Common Ground America remains deeply divided, of that there is no doubt. After 9/11 America was more united then it has ever been in recent history, and the entire world was on our side. "Today, everyone is an American" was a common sentiment. Almost no one doubted that America had to take some military action- especially to clean up the situation in Afghanistan, but many, perhaps most Americans hoped that we would also use this terrible event to inspire our country to be a more positive force in the world. Yes, we needed to invade Afghanistan and kill the terrorists, but we also needed to "invade" these trouble spots with our teachers, doctors, economic development specialists business professionals who view international business as a way to lift the developing world out of poverty. This was the "other half" of the response to 9/11 that the rest of us never got. Instead, we got a President who saw the world as "us verses them", closed his mind to all alternative views, and ignored the biggest protests in world history in his decision to invade and occupy a country that had not attacked us. He also clearly misled us on the facts of the situation and no thinking person can deny that he implied that he had information linking Iraq to the attack on American on 9/11. Normally it is an American tradition to support, or at least accept, the winner of a Presidential election- but that will be extremely tough for many Americans this time. After the first disputed election when Bush lost the majority vote, many people expected him to reach out to all Americans- possibly by appointing Democrats to positions of power or working to build consensus positions. Instead, Bush never even gave lip service to the concept of bi-partisanship and instead worked almost exclusively on a right-wing agenda. As one person put it, "Bush doesn't want to change what America does, he wants to change what America is". We took some heat for last month's headline "United States Reelects President Bush" but here in California, of course, we did not select Bush- in fact he was overwhelming rejected by the majority of voters in California. This was not intended to be "anti-Republican" as some people said but rather was intended to be "pro-California" - we could just have easily have said, "Bush suffers stunning defeat in California" and even some very active Republicans understood that we were approaching this from a "California first" perspective. We are here to discuss international business in California, but we are not going to get anywhere if we state with issues where we are certain to disagree- so I have listed those below, followed by areas where we might find some agreement. Please skip to the second section if you are offended by opinions that do not support the current administration in Washington. Where not to seek common ground. Here are a few places where we probably won't find common ground. The good news here is that most of these are Federal issues, thought they certainly impact California: The War in Iraq. Those who seek common ground should probably not try to find it in Bush's approach to the war in Iraq. We do support the troops- they have been put in an almost impossible situation but we can't think of a worse way of "country building" or starting a democracy than the way Bush has gone about it. Even if you believe Saddam Hussein need to be removed from power, that could have been done with a single bullet- Bush has been completely inept in handing this situation and even the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee accused the administration of "incompetence" in their management of the rebuilding effort. Iraq is in a horrible situation now- there is almost no economic development because there is no security, and there is no security because there are no jobs so people are joining insurgency groups to fight for their future, therefore this is no security and the cycle continues. The War on Terror. The terrorists who attacked American need to be hunted down and destroyed, but we also need to rid the world of the breeding grounds of terrorism- including poverty, ignorance and religious fundamentalism. We would have much rather not called it the "The War on Terror" but rather "The War on Terrorists". As former Secretary of State Madeline Albright put it, ""we were not attacked by a verb". Bush does not like such distinctions and has blurred the "war on terror" with the war in Iraq as if the are the same thing or can be dealt with by the same methods- but we wish our Government was smarter than this.. "you can't fight terrorists with bombs" the Spanish Prime minister said succinctly. Senator Kerry attributed his loss to the video taped message from Osama Bin Laden a week before the election. Part of that message, however, was withheld from us until after the election: "For every one dollar we spend, you spend a million" Bin Laden said. In other words the true goal of the terrorists is the financial ruin of the United States- and with a burn rate of 5.8 billion dollars every month they might be doing just that. Several high level intelligence experts have confirmed that the war in Iraq was exactly what the terrorists wanted and this has been confirmed with captured documents- so it is hard to escape the conclusion that the President is "playing into the hands" of the terrorists. Federal Government Spending. The Federal Budget deficit is bound to be a huge issue in the coming years. Just as Gray Davis and the Democrats spent California's entire budget surplus- and then some, Bush and the Republicans have spent the entire United States Treasury- and then some. "As significant as the Democratic Party losing the Southern States; is the Republican Party losing any claim to being financially conservative" according to one analyst. "Deficits don't matter" Vice President Cheney famously said. It would be cool if that were true, but they can no longer blame the Democrats if they are wrong. The situation is reversed here in California where some Republicans are true fiscal conservatives, but their reputation has been harmed by the Republicans in Washington. Laissez Faire Economics. America lost a huge part of its industrial base under President Bush. It is true that the loss of manufacturing began well before Bush took office, but it accelerated greatly on his watch. Preoccupied with the War in Iraq he did virtually nothing for the first several years in office, then, almost as an afterthought, he told his boyhood friend Don Evans, who he had appointed as Secretary of the Department of Commerce to "do something about it". Unfortunately, all Secretary Evans did was fly around the country for a series of "roundtable discussions" - and then write a report- but that was about it. There is a scary tendency among conservatives to think that all we have to do is wave the flag and play the Star Spangled Banner and somehow things will be great, but I think our international competitors might just be laughing at us if that is really the best we can do. Religion and Faith. The separation of Church and State was one of the great values we hold as Americans. I say "was" because Bush has done everything he can to blur this separation. Now it seems that many Religions no longer have much to do with spirituality and are have become essentially political organizations. A stunning 100 percent of the Texas delegates to the Republican Convention in New York were born again Christians. Furthermore, for reasons we still don't understand, these "faith based communities": have very different standards of truth and honesty than what has now been dubbed the "reality based communities". Bush was instructed to say that it is "OK" if you are one of the "unbelievers" - that they can be patriotic too, but for more than 200 years it has never been necessary to say this. Where we might find common ground. Here are a few places where we might find some common ground. The good news here is that international business development is not a "Democrat" or "Republican" issue and does not need to be divisive. Small Business & Entrepreneurship. It has always been amazing that neither political party understands or supports small business. Republicans often think "business" and "Corporations" are synonymous; Democrats seem to emphasize "labor unions" - no longer much of a force, or a help, in our society. Both parties have forgotten that all companies, even major corporations, at one time started with a single entrepreneur. An interesting report that was just released a few days ago from the U.S. Census has revealed the California has a huge number of single person businesses- 2.52 million to be exact, the largest number in the nation. This could, and should be California's "ace in the hole" but no one is helping these businesses- no one. The dot com boom and bust in some ways did immense damage to small business- ending "small venture" investment and completely destroying such worthwhile concepts as business incubation. We have to again find a way to help our small business community- because they represent the future of California. Investment in California Business. In 1906, after the great San Francisco fire and earthquake and fire, the city lie in ruins and a sense of hopelessness and desperation spread- most people doubted whether the city would ever be rebuilt. A pair of Italian immigrants- the owners of a small bank, however, had a different idea. With their own bank in ruins, they rescued what they could, set up shop in the back of a horse drawn wagon and began giving loans to residents whose lives had been ruined by the fire- sometimes with little more than a handshake. They believed in their city and they believed in America and from this faith the Bank of America was born- now a major worldwide Corporation. We hope we are not picking of Bank of America too much to note how far they have come from their roots, because so have most other banks and sources of business finance. We need to find a way to get this spirit back so that our companies, especially small business have capital to thrive and grow. Term Limits for Bureaucrats. The founding fathers of the United States, in their wisdom, envisioned lifelong employment to just an few highly respected citizens- namely the justices of the Supreme Court. Now we have a new class of people- Government and Public Sector Employees, who have been awarded job security and benefits far beyond that which is offered to most people in the private sector. Entrenched bureaucrats are a real problem in California, including those in the "non profit" sector. Many have acted as effective blocks preventing new and innovative ideas from even being considered. Of all the politically incorrect things we have said here, this is perhaps the most dangerous. "Never get between a Bear and her Cubs, and especially never get between a Bureaucrat and his pension" someone once said. We think people in the public and nonprofit sector should limit themselves to five years or so- after that they should seek out a position in the private sector. Cooperation and Information Sharing. California business needs much better systems for information sharing. It would be especially helpful if a way for small companies and big corporations to share information could be found- about prospective customers, market intelligence, supply chains and anything else that might help us more effectively work together for mutual benefit. If the Government could find a way to contribute, so much the better, but this will involve a different, and less selfish, way of thinking about business development. There are certainly other places to find common ground but these would be a good place to start. We need to work on this if we want California to again be the land of opportunity.
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The California Trade Network The California Trade Network is a small business, private sector initiative with the goal of providing high quality information and communication services for California's international business community. This is a commercial service but we are offering an array of free services as a benefit to internationally-oriented companies and professionals in California. This includes the California International Business Directory and a Trade Opportunity Database as well as several other information services and on-line business forums. We are also developing more sophisticated commercial services including an international trade opportunity matching service and higher quality information content and communication services. We are especially excited about the new CALTRADE Community Portal it uses a business networking technology with integrated Internet Telephony which we intend to offer as a fee based service. We are also actively looking for partners and sponsors for this initiative so please contact us if you would like to discuss business possibilities. For more information about the current services of the California Trade Network please see this link or visit us on the web at: This report is published by the California Trade Network and we are solely responsible for its content. Please send comments, suggestions, corrections and ideas for inclusion to CALTRADE@gmail.com or call 858-483-7250. We will also consider short opt-ed pieces. This is part of an outreach effort to the international business community in California. Please help us by using the link at the bottom to forward this to the person responsible for international business development in your organization, or to your associates who may be interested in this topic. To remove yourself from this mailing list use the "unsubscribe" link at at the lower left. Also use the unsubscribe link if you want this delivered to a different email address- the current delivery address will be removed and a form will display that will allow you to enter a new email address. | |
Governor Schwarzenegger visited Japan on November 11th and 
Later Governor Schwarzenegger met with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi who created a bit of a stir when he noted that Schwarzenegger is more popular in Japan than President Bush. Koizumi has been criticized for being close to Bush and for sending hundreds of troops to Iraq. In a press conference afterward, Schwarzenegger tried to downplay this emphasis by saying Koizumi was "very funny'' and "very complimentary,'' but instead of the Governor's promotion of California this was the headline in many Japanese publications.